Canadian cable operator Cogeco has been defending itself after growth slowed at its Portuguese subsidiary. Cogeco bought into Cabovisão in 2006, but after initial growth has seen revenues decrease after Portugal Telecom’s newly spun-off PT Multimedia reduced prices.
“Portugal, as you know, was acquired because it’s a good source of future growth that has low basic penetration, low high-speed Internet penetration, and is a reservoir of growth for the future of this company,” Louis Audet, chief executive officer of Cogeco Cable, told an analysts call. He said the company was now adjusting to having more than one competitor in the marketplace.
In many municipalities all the operators – TV Cabo, Cabovisão, TVTel and Pluricanal – compete head on
Cabovisão grew its basic cable service by 4,933 subscribers in the first financial quarter to November 30, 2007. This compares to additions 7,253 customers as at August 31, 2007. A total of 707,355 revenue generating units compared to 697,157 in the previous quarter.
