Market improving for Cabovisão

Portugal’s cable market continues to be “extremely competitive” but is stabilising, according to Louis Audet, CEO of Cogeco, the Canadian cable operator that owns Cabovisão.

The performance of the Portuguese cable operator improved in the third quarter of Cocegco’s fiscal 2010 year with the addition of 27,680 RGUs, giving it a total of 808,176 at the end of May. The number of basic cable service customers grew by 498 compared to a loss of 11,394 customers in the comparable period of the prior year. The number of digital TV customers was up 16,779 quarter-on-quarter to 147,835. Cogeco said the growth was down to retention strategies implemented last year.

Cabovisão revenues reached US$43.6m (€34.4m), down 24.2% year-on-year.

Cogeco reported total third quarter revenues of US$319.3m, up 4.5% year-on-year.