ZON TV Cabo lost subscribers in the third quarter, another example of the competitive pressures in the Portuguese market. Although basic subscriber numbers increased by 1.2% on the year, the operator closed Q3 2008 with 1,539,000 subscribers, 18,000 short of where it was at the end of the second quarter.
Although blended ARPU remained static on the quarter at €31.8, this does not tell the whole story, the figure having risen by 3.7%. This is due to increases in dual and triple play penetration where 46% of the operator’s cable customers now take two or more of the triple play services. At the end of the third quarter 45% of ZON’s gross adds were coming from triple play packages.
51,000 of the new ZON Boxes were installed since its launch in May, giving subscribers both a personal video recorder and HD reception.
On October 27, ZON launched its ZON Mobile product, available across Portugal and including mobile broadband.