Virgin Media had its best subscriber net adds for years in Q3, despite slowing market growth and intense competition from the DSL operators

Underlying cable revenue growth also remained solid at around 4.5%, business and mobile continued to perform well, and underlying OCF growth was stable at 6%

As the market moves to high speed broadband, Virgin Media is benefitting above all others, and this long gradual shift is still in its early stages

BT faced a more intense battle in the broadband market in the September quarter, and lost some net adds share, but retained its #1 spot and is still growing well

Revenue growth fell at both the group and consumer level, but this was largely due to the BT Sport direct revenue benefit annualising out, with growth excluding this actually improving a touch

The flip side of this is that the negative cost impact is also annualising out, and cost reduction in the quarter looks weak in this context, but this is likely due more to discretionary spend on new products than a lack of costs to cut

EE’s 4G adoption continued to surge, with 1.4m net adds, over 80% of new contract sales taking 4G and just under 40% of contract base having adopted it

Mobile service revenue growth however slowed to -2.4% from -1.1% the previous quarter, with an extra regulatory hit from the EU’s ‘Consumer Rights Directive’ doing some of the damage, as well as some underlying weakness

Operating revenue growth (i.e. including fixed and revenue from MVNOs) was much healthier, helped by the fast growing fixed broadband business, but growth in mobile is crucial to driving profitability given the operating leverage involved

Q1 2015 results show steady underlying revenue growth in retail subscription and increases in other segments, along with the continuing extraction of cost efficiencies, resulting in an 11% year-on-year increase in Q1 operating profits

Quarter-on-quarter, Q1 2015 retail subscription revenues and ARPU were flat in spite of the strong uptake and growing use of connected products. Main causes appeared temporary - a mixture of seasonal factors and the launch of Sky Sports 5 with its two-year free broadband offer - while underlying growth remains firmly positive

Meanwhile, Sky’s accelerated investment in connectivity during 2014 is bearing fruit. Eyes may be focused on the formation of the “new Sky” (on schedule for November) and the long awaited Premier League auction, yet other developments such as Sky Store and Sky AdSmart also deserve full attention

EE has launched a new TV service featuring an advanced set-top box with a snazzy interface offered for free to its broadband/mobile customers

The lack of premium content means that the service is of little threat to the established pay TV operators Sky and Virgin Media, and the lack of integration with mobile or steep quad play discount makes it non-threatening to the mobile market

It does however reposition EE Broadband as a differentiated service, making it more competitive without lowering its headline price, with triple play the focus of this move in our view

Virgin Media’s request for Ofcom to open a formal investigation into the auction mechanism of live televised Premier League rights is a timely reminder of the need to consider the consumer as the auction draws ever closer with all eyes focused on the battle of BT versus Sky

When the EC last intervened before the 2006 auction, its remedy focused on the need for more than one winner for the sake of a more competitive downstream market, but without considering other variables affecting the outcome, to which Virgin Media has drawn attention

As the European country with much the highest rights fees per game, much the fewest televised top league games, highest package prices and by far the biggest outlay on player wages, the current PL auction mechanism gives the UK consumer little cause for cheer

Market revenue growth in the UK residential communications sector continued to be robust in Q2 2014 at 5.4%, a slight increase on the previous quarter, with continued volume growth and firm pricing countering weak call volumes and the negative impact of a VAT legislation change hitting Virgin Media and TalkTalk

BT was the fastest growing out of the ‘big four’ in revenue terms in Q2 even after the direct revenue impact of BT Sport is excluded, a remarkable turnaround after being in last place a year ago, driven by both volume and ARPU growth continuing to accelerate, with fibre helping both

Since the end of Q2, promotional activity has already intensified, particularly from BT and Sky around the start of the new football season, and churn is likely to be under more pressure at all of the operators, although the disruption is likely to be less severe than that experienced around the launch of BT Sport last year, and we expect all of the major players to continue to grow in net terms

Virgin Media’s consumer cable business has moved back to accelerating volume and (underlying) ARPU growth, with the new ‘big bundle’ packages looking like a success

Growth at the business and mobile divisions improved sharply, pushing group revenue growth back into firmly positive territory, and profitability growth even higher

Given the broadband speeds it offers, Virgin Media is still good value, and gets better value as speed demands increase, allowing continued price increases to back up future growth

BT had a solid Q1, with Group revenue growth still positive but slightly slowed by weakness in managed services and Global Services, and EBITDA flat in the last quarter before BT Sport costs fully annualise out

The consumer side had strong revenue growth, with accelerating volume growth and solid ARPU, although net subscriber additions were relatively subdued in a quarter that was seasonally quiet

The next quarter will likely be a noisier one, with promotions ramping up as the new football season launches, and both BT and Sky positioning themselves ahead of the next Premier League auction

2014 saw a fall in profits as BSkyB absorbed the £217 million step-up in the annual cost of PL rights and invested £60-70 million in accelerating growth in its connected offerings, but with strong underlying revenue growth pointing to a resurgence of profits in 2015

The annual results release was over-shadowed by the news of BSkyB’s proposal to create Sky Europe through the acquisition of 21C’s shares in Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia, where it sees great opportunities for revenue growth and cost synergies

Taking on a large increase in debt to finance the acquisitions when the next PL auction is about to strike sends out the message that BSkyB management is confident about the state of its business, has a clear view about the value of PL rights, and will not be side-tracked from the pursuit of its broader strategic objectives