Dutch telecom authority OPTA has published the reports concerning open cable access on Dutch networks. As expected, the authority will force UPC and Ziggo to open up the analogue TV market to third parties. Operators CAIW and Delta are deemed too small to implement forced access.
Following the publicly available version of the reports, interested parties can file their comments before September 18, 2008. OPTA will then make its final decision, which is expected to take effect on January 1, 2009. KPN will not be allowed access to the cable networks.
Although the public version of the reports does not contain data about carriage agreements between the major cable operators and the alternative infrastructures such as IPTV, it is clear major broadcasters including RTL and National Geographic are demanding far higher payments from the newcomers than from the traditional cablers.
From the reports it is also clear, again without actual figures, that DTH and IPTV are growing slowly. The number of new subscribers at the DTH platform Canal Digitaal is stagnating, while the IPTV platforms from Tele2 and KPN are growing slower than expected.
By contrast, KPN’s Digitenne DTT platform is growing much faster than anticipated. In the service areas of Ziggo and UPC, Digitenne now enjoys a penetration of between 5 – 10%, whilst this is below 5% in the CAIW and Delta areas. FttH could in the future also become a serious competitor to cable: in the municipality of Hillegom Ziggo said it lost 30% of its subscribers to the newcomer.
OPTA expects the number of cable subscribers to drop from the current 80-90% penetration to between 70 and 80% during the next three years.
