US cable operator Cox Communications swung to a loss in the first quarter despite a 16% rise in revenues.

The group posted a net loss of $29.2 million (€25.8m; £18.1m) for the first three months of 2003, tumbling from profits of $135.6m in Q1 last year. Revenues, meanwhile, jumped from $1.18 billion to $1.37bn, reflecting growth in subscribers to premium offerings such as digital cable, as well as price rises for basic cable services and broadband internet.

At the close of the first quarter, Cox had 6.3m customers for its basic cable offering (up 0.6% year-on-year), plus 1.6m broadband subscribers (up 56%), 1.9m digital cable households (up 4%) and 0.8m digital telephone customers (up 52%).

However, the costs associated with such services rose 15% to $583.6m, as the transition to advanced communications services saw Cox raising outlay on programming, overheads and labor.

Data sourced from: The Wall Street Journal Online; additional content by WARC staff