Dutch cabler UPC's shares surged 11% today when it reported lower than expected second-quarter net losses of Euros368.2m against analysts' estimates of Euros440m. However the result was more than five times its losses of Euros72.9m in the same quarter last year.

Revenues rose 19% to Euros238m compared with Euros199.6m the previous year. The company also reported that it had 6.99 million basic cable subscribers at the end of the second quarter along with 230,000 internet subscribers and 362,000 telephony subscribers.

UPC CEO Mark Schneider said in a news conference that he expects to close a deal to buy one of Deutsche Telekom's nine regional cable licences soon. He also said that the company has been in talks with France's Canal Plus about providing content for the French pay-TV giant's digital services in Northern European territories including the Netherlands, Poland and Scandinavia.

"We could develop content-related services together," said Schneider, although he added that "talks have broken down two or three times."