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67% of customers now on LLU
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‘Successful’ year for Carphone Warehouse
Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk
Carphone Warehouse has hailed a “successful” year with strong annual profits, but remains “cautious” about the year ahead, said the company in its annual results released today (12-06-08).
The owner of AOL (www.AOL.co.uk) and “free broadband” provider TalkTalk (www.TalkTalk.co.uk) saw its broadband customer base increase by 19 per cent over the past year, to a total of 2.7 million.
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"We remain cautious in our outlook for the year ahead"
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However, due to the ongoing credit crisis and an “increasingly challenging” economic climate in Europe, new broadband additions in the UK had not been as high as expected and Charles Dunstone, Carphone Warehouse chief executive said: “We remain cautious in our outlook for the year ahead.”
But the company has continued to move even more customers to its own local loop unbundled (LLU) network, with 67 per cent of customers connected to the more profitable lines at the end of March 2008.
“Our UK Fixed Line operations have had an excellent year,” added Dunstone. “Two thirds of all our broadband customers are now on our own network. In addition, we have continued to grow the base thanks to our strong distribution network and innovative services.
“The slowdown in the housing market and a strong performance in mobile broadband sales in our stores have led to lower gross adds. However, this has been offset to some extent by falling churn,” he concluded.
The company hopes that its recent deal with US retailer Best Buy will transform its performance in the States.
Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: “This has been a tough year for many industries, but with the broadband market nearing saturation point, and increased competition coming from the popular mobile broadband offers, broadband providers will have to try even harder to continue to grow, and tempt customers away from competitors.”
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