Virgin Mobile added 73,000 customers during the second quarter of this year – a 60% increase on the same quarter in 2008.
 
Virgin Media, which now has a total of 785,000 mobile customers, reported its results for Q2 2009 yesterday (6 August).
 
The company is now concentrating on its ‘third screen’ strategy, linking together its mobile, broadband and television customers, and is poised to launch a video-on-demand service on mobile phones.
 
Virgin Media is also planning to launch a BlackBerry-style email device and allow its users to use social networking site Twitter on their mobiles, in a bid to persuade more of its broadband customers to sign up to mobile. The company will also now offer high-end smartphones such as the Nokia Eseries, to attract high-end customers.
 
Meanwhile, Virgin Media announced it was working to launch the world’s first unlimited music download subscription service with Universal Music, and said discussions were now underway with other major and independent labels and publishers.
 
Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett said: ‘Our strong, free cashflow is underpinned by good cost control and a high quality customer base.
 
‘This reflects the success we have had in delivering and monetising a compelling and highly competitive consumer proposition that exploits our strengths in broadband and video-on-demand. The growth outlook for the second half of the year remains strong.’