Telenet hails success of quad-play offering

Liberty Global-owned Flemish region cable operator Telenet managed to add to its new all-in-one converged Wigo bundle base in the second quarter, but its fixed cable subscriber base was hit by what it described as an “intensely competitive environment”.

Telenet added 35,800 Wigo customers in the three months to June, taking its total to 224,400. However, the cable operator’s basic video base declined by 14% in the first half of the year to 265,000, while its pre-paid mobile base declined by 37% to reach 620,100.

Telenet’s video base overall grew by 1% year-on-year to 2.062 million, with enhanced video customers growing by 4% to reach 1.796 million. Broadband customers grew by 5% to reach 1.796 million and fixed phone customers also grew by 5% to reach 1.304 million. Post-paid mobile customer grew by 10% to reach 2.218 million.

The group’s triple-play base grew by 5% to reach 1.183 million.

Telenet’s SVOD offerings Play and Play More grew their base by 19% to reach 393,100 customers, driven by promotional campaigns and the addition of linear viewing and a new interface. Telenet’s premium sports offering had 223,100 customers at the end of June, down 3% thanks to the ending of the football season.

Telenet posted revenue of €1.238 billion for the first half of the year, up 5%. Adjusted EBITDA was up 7% to €592.4 million.

“Telenet can look back at a solid first half of 2017 in which we laid the foundation for sustained profitable growth and further boosted our customer propositions,” said CEO John Porter.

“At the end of June 2017, we introduced our new Wigo quad-play lineup, providing an increased mobile data allowance, which can be shared between members of the same household or company at unchanged price points, so our customers can get more value out of their digital lifestyle.”