The Dutch incumbent telco KPN ended Q2 with 337,000 TV subscriptions, or 41,000 more than three months earlier. The year-on-year increase in the total was 47%.
KPN has realized this growth by mainly improving the marketing and increasing the coverage of its DTT service Digitenne. KPN’s market share of the digital TV market at the end of Q2 was 14%, equivalent to 5% of the total TV market.
TV is a strategic pillar in KPN’s multiplay offer, with low-cost DTT as challenger to cable. IPTV, through a proposition called ‘Interactive TV’ (formerly Mine), is meanwhile positioned as a premium product with value added services such as video on demand (VOD) and a larger number of optional channels.
As of August 1, KPN will implement a new TV (pricing) strategy based on triple play. The DTToffer will start at €6.95 for the basic package, an average 50% discount compared to cable, and the IPTV offer at €9.95 for the basic package, available only in combination with DSL/VoIP.
Separately, following approval by the NMa, the Dutch competition authority, KPN and Télédiffusion de France (TDF) have closed the sale of 24 towers, resulting in €75 million of sales proceeds and a €51 milion real estate book gain.