Yes grows subscriber base as Bezeq deconsolidates

Israeli DTH service Yes grew its subscriber base to 567,000 at the end of the third quarter, up 2% or 11,000 year-on-year, with ARPU falling by 0.9% to NIS224 (€40). Yes plans to launch video-on-demand services early in 2010, giving it a potential additional source of revenue.

Yes turned in revenues of NIS380m for the quarter, up 1.4% year-on-year. The pay-TV broadcaster posted a net loss of NIS88m, compared with a loss of NIS82m last year, due primarily to an increase in financing expenses to shareholders. However EBITDA was NIS120m, up 7.6%.

Yes’s owner Bezeq deconsolidated the pay-TV operator in August, following a decision by the Israeli Supreme Court that prevented it from increasing its stake in the operator to above 50%. As a result Bezeq turned a net profit of NIS2.09bn for the quarter that included a one-time gain of NIS1.5bn from the deconsolidation of the pay-TV unit. Bezeq posted revenues of NIS2.92bn, up 4.2% year-on-year.
 

Read Next