The Dutch cable operator @Home, part of the Zesko Holding, has connected 500,000 digital homes, the company announced today. Last week, the operator also welcomed its 300,000th cable telephony subscriber. Out of about 1.7 million subscribers, digital penetration now stands at just over 29%; telephony take-up is around 17%.
@Home launched its current digital TV service in 2004, but consumer take-up only started last year. During 2006, the number of digital homes grew from 185,000 before the World Cup football tournament to 250,000 after the event. With the current rate of growth, the operator expects the number of digital homes to reach 530,000 before year end. @Home has a retail model in which consumers buy their own set-top box and buy a smart card and subscription from the operator.
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Connected TV Forecasts NEW REPORT. The number of TV sets connected to the Internet will reach 551 million by 2016 for the 40 countries covered in this report from Digital TV Research, up from 124 million at end-2010. The report states that this translates to 20% of global TV sets by 2016, up from only 6% at end-2010. Published in November 2011, this 83-page PDF report is the most geographically comprehensive to ever be published.