TalkTalk says customer acquisition costs to hit earnings

LONDON (Reuters) - British broadband provider TalkTalk said attracting more customers and changing its accounting standard would cost it up to 15 million pounds ($19.7 million) this financial year, resulting in earnings falling short of analysts' expectations.

The company said underlying earnings would be in the range 245 million to 250 million pounds, below an analysts' consensus quoted by the company of 259 million pounds.

It said it added 44,000 customers in the third quarter, taking its base to 4.29 million, while average revenue per user was 24.70 pounds, down from 25.18 pounds a year ago.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by James Davey)