UK's Virgin Media O2 records dip in fixed-line base

LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - British broadband and mobile company Virgin Media O2 reported a small dip in its fixed-line customers in the first quarter as customers joining newly expanded areas of its network were offset by declines in its existing footprint.

The company, jointly owned by Liberty Global and Telefonica, said its fixed customer base fell by a net 8,000 to 5.8 million by the end the quarter, in which it raised prices.

It said on Wednesday it had extended its network to 101,000 premises in the quarter, keeping it on track to add more than 500,000 this year.

It said it was also pressing ahead with upgrading its existing cable network to full fibre by 2028.

Adjusted revenue was broadly flat at 2.5 billion pounds ($3.09 billion), it said, while adjusted core earnings increased 2.6% year-on-year to 931.7 million pounds.

($1 = 0.8080 pounds) (Reporting by Paul Sandle, Editing by Louise Heavens)