Virgin Media Ireland lost a net 7,100 subscriptions in the fourth quarter of 2019 across its broadband, home telephone and cable television services, bringing its total in the Irish market down to 993,700.

The company, which is owned by Liberty Global, saw its number of television subscribers rise 3,500 to 280,400, in a further sign that it has broken a long-term pattern of decline in this business. Virgin is expected to bring a new set-top box to market in the coming months.

The number of Virgin broadband subscribers fell by 1,000 to 378,200, while its home telephone subscriptions dropped 9,600 to 335,100.

Separately, Virgin also has 97,600 mobile customers, down 400 on the third quarter of 2019.

Controlled by billionaire John Malone, Liberty Global operates across Ireland, the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland and Slovakia. Last year, it sold its operations in Germany, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic to Vodafone.