Virgin Media, the struggling cable group, will claim that its turnaround is on track when it unveils a slowdown in the exodus of customers to rivals.

The pay-TV and broadband group, whose hoped-for sale collapsed amid the global credit crunch, is expected to reveal a decline of about 31,000 customers in the third quarter, compared to a loss of 70,000 in the previous one.

It will also stress to investors that a sale of the business will now not happen until next year at the earliest.

Virgin, formed last year from the merger of the former NTL/Telewest cable groups and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Mobile, had hoped to shake up the home communications market by becoming the first “quadruple play” provider of pay-TV, broadband, fixed-line telephone and mobile services.

However, the group struggled to fulfil its potential and in May found itself under attack from investors, including Franklin Mutual Advisers, over its management and strategy.

A turbulent period has since seen a proposed $10 billion (£4.8 billion) sale fall through and its chief executive, Steve Burch, replaced. The company has also become embroiled in a messy legal spat with BSkyB, the satellite broadcaster which is 39.1 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times.

At the results, on Wednesday, Neil Berkett, the group’s former chief operating officer and acting head, is expected to confirm a pledge to return the group to overall customer growth in the second half of this year.

Analysts at Citigroup are forecasting a decline of around 31,000 in the group’s customer base in the third quarter, followed by growth of around 45,000 customers in the fourth quarter. Residential telecoms customers, it says, are likely to decline by around 44,000 this quarter.

Instead of fighting for premium pay-TV customers, the group will unveil plans to focus on the cable operator’s broadband service as its core product for luring in customers.

Broadband is expected to be the strongest performing service in this quarter, with around 60,000 new customers.

However, the cable group is still facing fierce competition. Sky recently revealed that its broadband service had signed its one millionth customer just 14 months after launching the service. New players, including O2 , are also still entering the broadband market.

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