The ntl: Telewest group completed its acquisition of Virgin Mobile and Virgin Mobile’s shares have been de-listed from the London Stock Exchange. The deal positions ntl: Telewest for delivering “quadruple play” services — TV, Internet and fixed and mobile telephony services for the UK.
Under a previous agreement, ntl: Telewest has also entered into a licensing arrangement with Virgin Enterprises permitting use of the Virgin brand for ntl: Telewest’s full portfolio of consumer services.
Commenting on the transaction, ntl:Telewest’s CEO Steve Burch said: “This is a transformational deal for ntl:Telewest and good news for UK consumers. Virgin Mobile has a justified reputation for being one of the country’s most customer-focused companies. This combined with ntl:Telewest’s portfolio of competitively-priced, cutting edge products, will create a formidable competitor in the UK’s fast changing communications and entertainment industries.”
Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, commented: “Today, we’ve created a unique organisation – a new, soon-to-be-branded Virgin company – which will offer the very finest in ‘quadruple’ – the best-value, most -exciting TV, broadband, mobile and phone services in Britain. We’re entering a pioneering time, where the worlds of media, entertainment and communications are coming together – and through our new company, our aim is to offer consumers the very best, most sought-after choice available. You ain’t, as the saying goes, seen nothing yet…”http://www.ntl.com/
- In March 2006, ntl and Telewest merged into a single company with more than 5 million residential customers. It became the largest provider of residential broadband services in the UK with 2.8 million subscribers, the second largest pay TV provider with 3.3 million subscribers and also the second largest fixed telephony provider with 4.3 million subscribers.