TV growth fails to address Telekom Austria woes

An overall positive picture for Telekom Austria’s TV business failed to compensate for ongoing declines in its fixed voice business and pressure in mobile in emerging markets in the first quarter.  

Telekom Austria’s A1 TV service had 240,000 subscribers at the end of the first quarter, up from 235,700 at the end of December and up 6.6% year-on-year. Fixed retail broadband lines grew from 1.352 million to 1.377 million over the same period.

However overall revenues fell by 9% in Austria thanks to the decline in fixed voice.

In Croatia, Telekom Austria’s Vipnet subsidiary saw IPTV and cable subscribers grow from 157,100 at the end of December to 159,800 in March, with fixed broadband also growing from 109,200 to 115,900. TV subs were up 10.8% year-on-year.

The company suffered a mild decline for its TV service in Bulgaria, with customers dropping from 77,800 in December to 77,300 at the end of March amid a decline in broadband retail lines from 155,000 to 149,700. However, TV subs were up 9.5% year-on-year.

Overall, Telekom Austria saw revenue fall by 7% to €975.9 million in the quarter. Operating income fell by 17.4% to €97.4 million.