Zon sees Iris growth in solid third quarter

Portuguese pay TV operator Zon Multimédia added 20,000 subscribers to its high-end Iris triple-play offering in the last quarter, taking its total for the service to 70,000 since launch. Iris is based on a new TV user interface designed by NDS.

The third quarter saw Zon turn in a respectable operational performance, with stronger revenue-generating unit growth than in previous quarters, with 43,800 net adds. Zon had 688,800 triple-play customers at the end of the quarter, up 14.1% year-on-year, giving it a triple-play penetration of almost 60% of its base. RGUs increased 5.9% year-on-year to 3.257 million. However, ARPU was up only slightly to €36, despite a recovery in premium sports subscriptions in the last quarter.

Basic subscribers fell year-on-year by 1.2% to 1.554 million, with a loss of 3,100 satellite customers in the last quarter offset by a gain of 4,600 basic cable customers. Broadband subscribers were up 8.8% to 725,000 and fixed telephony subscribers grew by 15.3% to 844,000. Mobile customers were up 27.4% to 133,400.
Operating revenues were down 3.6% to €213.7 million. EBITDA rose by 0.1% to €79.6 million.