Cable provider Virgin Media is targeting growth in broadband users as a key part of plans to improve profit at the company.

Net losses at Virgin Media totalled £61m in the company's second quarter, an improvement of £35m on figures from last year.

Revenue was £1bn, down slightly from the £1.02bn reported last year. But the company gained 115,800 users to its broadband service, a significant rise on the 45,800 figure from the previous three months.

Virgin is now planning to strengthen its position as a broadband provider through the implementation of DOCSIS 3.0, a high-speed cable standard. The company aims to offer connection speeds of up to 50Mbit/s during 2008.

“Our third quarter results show a significant turnaround in customer and revenue growth with our best customer, broadband and telephony growth since the cable merger in March 2006," said acting chief executive Neil Berkett.

"With the cable merger integration expected to be complete by year-end, we can focus on continuing to improve the fundamentals, enhancing our products, reducing our churn, and delivering on our competitive strengths.”