Britain's second-largest cable company, Telewest Global, said it swung to a first-quarter net profit as it added 23,000 net subscribers.

The company refused to discuss its strategic plans regarding NTL, its larger UK peer.

Analysts expect Telewest to seek a tie-up with NTL in order to compete more effectively with dominant pay-TV firm BSkyB, and people familiar with the matter said earlier this week that Telewest is meeting with investment banks to select an adviser for talks.

Both companies emerged from extensive financial restructurings last year, and have several large shareholders in common.

Net profit for the three months to March 31 was £1 million from a loss of £4 million a year earlier. Revenues rose to £338 million from £328 million in the year-ago period.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - a figure closely followed by many analysts - rose to £134 million from £122 million.

The company said that 30 per cent of its customers subscribe to the "triple play" package of telephone, television and broadband service, and it expects 40 per cent of its customers to subscribe to the package during 2007 - two years earlier than it previously forecast.

Churn, or the average percentage of customers who left the service each month, fell to 1.0 per cent from 1.1 per cent.

Quarterly additions of 23,000 were in line with the company's aim to add a net of 70,000-80,000 subscribers per year, company executives said.

During the same period, NTL added 33,000 subscribers and BSkyB - aided by a hefty marketing campaign and larger geographical footprint than either cable company - added 95,000.

Chief Operating Officer Eric Tveter said the company has not detected any impact from the decline in UK consumer confidence.

"The cable business historically has been recession proof," he said. "When consumers are under pressure they reduce certain types of entertainment, but cable is an excellent value".