UPC Nederland is not prepared to lower the pricing of its digital TV product, even though KPN is now charging half the amount for its Digitenne offer.
“UPC is not in a price war. To lower our price to the level of Digitenne – then you talk about a half – leads inevitably to losses because of our high fixed cost,” said Diederik Karsten, CEO UPC, in the Dutch daily Het Financieele Dagblad.
The consolidation in the market for broadband Internet access and telephony is now almost complete, according to Karsten. KPN has acquired most internet access providers with just a still few parties remaining independent. Karsten expects the same will happen for distribution of digital TV. “With the partial takeover of [FttH provider] Reggefiber by KPN you even see consolidation taking place before the distribution is fully developed.”
Regarding Reggefiber developments, Broadband TV News notes that it was just revealed that of the 43,000 homes passed in Amsterdam only 3,000 homes have actually subscribed to the Reggefiber service (see Broadband TV News passim).
