IPTV and broadband subs continue to rise

Europe was home to 13.6 million IPTV subscribers by the end of June, up 51% year-on-year, according to industry body the Broadband Forum.

Western Europe had growth of 6% during the quarter. France had the most subscribers with over seven million. Growth in Eastern Europe was 12% with new services launching in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Russia during the quarter. The region had 1.2 million IPTV subscribers at the end of June compared with 655,000 a year earlier.

In terms of broadband, the number of lines grew by 12.9 million globally during the second quarter taking the total to 444.3 million, up 12% year-on-year. The number of lines in Western Europe reached 109.7 million, up 10% year-on-year. Eastern Europe had a 30% increase taking the total to 25.1 million lines. Germany had the most broadband subscribers in Europe at the end of June with 24 million, followed by France with 18.3 million, the UK with 17.8 million and Italy with 12.9 million.

The Broadband Forum also revealed that Scandinavia is leading the way in terms of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) penetration in Europe. Sweden was home to 478,900 FTTH subscribers at the end of June – a penetration rate of 10.9%. It was followed by Norway with 204,550 subs (10.2%), Slovenia with 62,000 subs (8.9%), Andorra with 3,000 subs (6.6%) and Denmark with 143,700 subs (5.7%).