Deutsche Telekom’s IPTV service continues to hover on the verge of one million subscribers as the T-Entertain platform continues to emerge as the centrepiece of the telco’s strategy.
As of March 31, 2010, T-Entertain had 896,000 subscribers, compared with 806,000 at the end of the fourth quarter and 448,000 one year ago. Another 300,000 subscribers have signed up to the service and are awaiting connection.
However, despite the growth from entertainment services the fixed network business still fell back by 4.1% on the year to €4.5 billion. Increased competition and price pressure being the major factors for the drop.
Telekom is looking to the connected home to further develop its business, pushing T- Entertain and Home Gateway as the hubs for media, entertainment, and home automation. Its ambition to become the market leader in pay-TV may not be that far fetched. Subscriber totals are already close to half that of Sky Deutschland and almost level with Kabel Deutschland’s pay-TV base.
Outside of Germany, Hungary added another 11,000 IPTV homes on the quarter to reach 79,000; Croatia is now on 251,000 subscribers following a 15,000 increase; Slovakia on 68,000 IPTV homes has benefited from a successful marketing campaign that has also grown the satellite business.
