Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, has met with a group of senior executives from the European cable industry. The meeting, which took place in Brussels yesterday evening (September 24), discussed the state of our industry and regulatory developments in the sector.
Commissioner Reding was told operators were anticipating continuing strong demand that would lift revenues by 11% in the current year. Germany and Eastern Europe are both anticipating increased take-up of services.
“Through its often superior network infrastructure, the cable industry triggers telecom incumbents to improve their own network infrastructure. As such cable stimulates the development of better broadband and telecom services in Europe,” said Caroline van Weede, managing director, Cable Europe. “Where cable is strong, the digital and broadband markets are more competitive, the incumbent better constrained.”
Delegates attending the event included Mike Fries, Liberty Global; Neil Berkett, Virgin Media (UK); Eugenio Galdon, Ono (Spain); Manuel Cubero, Kabel Deutschland (Germany); Bernard Dijkhuizen, Ziggo (Netherlands); Arnaud Polaillon, Numéricable, (France); Duco Sickinghe, Telenet (Belgium); Tomas Franzén, Comhem (Sweden); Niels Brenning, YouSee (Denmark); Johan Flykt, Welho (Finland) and Manuel Kohnstamm, President Cable Europe.
