As competition in the key business sector ramps up, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) has revealed that it has seen falls in revenues in its fixed broadband business over the course of the second quarter of 2025 despite an uptick in mobile connections.
The company’s official results showed that for the three months ended 30 June 2025, revenue – excluding handset and the impact of construction for its nexfibre joint venture business – was £2.175bn, down 0.4% compared with the same period in 2024. Total revenue decreased 5.5% year on year (YoY) to £2.527bn, while total mobile revenue slipped 0.9% on an annual basis to £1.385bn, driven by a 5.2% reduction in low margin handset revenue.
Consumer fixed revenue also decreased 0.9% to £857.1m, due to a reduction in the customer base while B2B fixed revenue decreased by 8.2% on a yearly basis to £99.2m, primarily driven by lower rental revenues. Other revenue decreased 38.7% to £185.5m, with a continued lower level of nexfibre construction revenue compared with the prior year.
Yet despite the mixed revenues, Q2 guided adjusted EBITDA, excluding the impact of nexfibre construction, were £985.9m, an increase of 1.1% compared with £974.8m in Q2 2024. Total adjusted EBITDA decreased 0.4% YoY to £984.2m. The decrease in adjusted EBITDA was attributable to negative nexfibre construction profitability, where construction revenues were said to have significantly reduced, excluding this impact growth was supported by cost efficiencies including a reduced level of Opex CTC. The second quarter of 2025 adjusted EBITDA margin was 39.0% compared with 36.9% in Q2 2024, primarily reflecting what VMO2 said was an improved revenue mix.
During the quarter, VMO2’s total fixed-line customer base stood at 5.7 million, the result of a 51,000-customer reduction in the quarter. VMO2’s total mobile connections (contract and prepaid) stood at 23 million, while the VMO2 mobile contract base totalled 15.6 million, with a reduction of 74,000 connections in Q2 predominantly due to lower value B2B losses, with O2 monthly contract churn improving YoY to 1.1%. Total mobile connection additions across the O2 network (including IoT and MVNO wholesale customers) increased by 480,000 in Q2 to 46 million.
As it assessed the quarterly performance, VMO2 emphasised that it had invested more than £1bn in the company in 2025 so far this year and that it would acquire 78.8 MHz of mobile spectrum for an investment of £343m, which should “significantly boost the mobile network”, according to the company, improving customer experience and bringing VMO2’s total mobile spectrum share to approximately 30%.
Total fixed-line serviceable premises stood at 18.5 million premises, all of which were said to have access to speeds of at least 1Gbps. The company’s full-fibre footprint extended to more than 7 million premises as it continued to progress fibre upgrades and built fibre on behalf of nexfibre.
Commenting on the quarterly performance, VMO2 CEO Lutz Schüler assured investors that despite “a tough trading environment”, the company was reconfirming its guidance for the year, adding: “Our significant network investments are continuing, as we leverage our scaled gigabit broadband network today and roll out fibre for future, and on the mobile side we continue to boost our network across the country, expand 5G Standalone to more areas and have announced a significant spectrum acquisition that will materially enhance our network performance in future, further improving customer experience.”
