Telenet reveals record quarter

Belgian cable operator Telenet has reported record quarterly net additions for each of its digital TV, broadband and telephony business units after adding a total of 184,000 net subscribers in the first quarter of 2009.

Telenet ended March with 716,000 digital TV customers, up 63% year-on-year, after adding 107,000 net customers during the quarter. Video‐on‐demand transactions increased by 59% year-on-year with almost seven million VOD transactions taking place in the quarter.

Average monthly transactions per user remained stable at 3.4. Revenue from premium TV services reached €25.6m for the first quarter, up 44% from €17.8m a year earlier.

Subscribers to analogue TV services were up 28% to 1.6 million. Telenet’s first quarter figures included, for the first time, subscribers to the Interkabel networks acquired last year.

During the first quarter, Telenet’s total broadband subscriber base surpassed the one million milestone, reaching 1,025,000 at the end of March, an increase of 112,000 or 12% compared with a year earlier. The operator ended March with 665,000 fixed telephony customers, up 16% year-on-year.

Including the acquisition of 763,000 TV subscribers from the Interkabel group of cable operators in October last year, Telenet’s total subscriber base reached 4,077,000 at the end of March, compared to 3,181,000 a year earlier. Triple-play customers numbered 577,000, up 67% year‐on‐year.

Telenet reported revenue of €286.3m for the quarter, up 16% year-on-year. EBITDA was up 26% to €149.2m.

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