Tele Columbus holds steady but TV numbers continue to decline

German cable operator Tele Columbus turned in a respectably solid fourth quarter, with revenues down marginally by 0.9% to €121.6 million, but with an increase in broadband and phone customers only partially offsetting an ongoing decline in the company’s cable TV base.

Tele Columbus, which operates under the Pÿur brand, saw its broadband base rise by 5,000 in the quarter, and phone subscribers increased by 2,000, but cable TV numbers fell by 15,000 over the quarter. TV subscribers now number 2.137 million, while internet customers number 602,000. The company has 439,000 phone customers.

While TV numbers overall fell, on the plus side premium TV subscribers increased by 3,000 quarter-on-quarter to 541,000.

B2B sales, which grew strongly over the full year buy 10%, saw a sharp downturn in Q4, attributed to delays and a high comparative figure for the prior year.

Tele Columbus grew its housing association base by 20,000 in the Hamburg and Borna regions, ending the year with 3.3 million connected homes overall, including 2.367 million two-way connected homes. The overall subscriber number was 2.226 million at the end of December, down 6,000 year-on-year.

Broadband and phone revenues were up 4.3% at €37.3 million, while TV revenues declined by 4.5% to €56.3 million in Q4.

Like-for-like EBITDA for Q4 was up 2.6% to €64.7 million, but the company turned in a net loss of €152.9 million due to a non-cash goodwill impairment of its TV business.

Tele Columbus now forecasts revenues of between €465 million and €475 million for 2021, and reported EBITDA of between €145 millin and €155 million.