Belgacom’s IPTV business now has 920,000 customers after a year-on-year growth of 39%. An additional 52,000 subscribers were added in the third quarter of 2010, but the company admitted that demand for its free TV pack was beginning to fade.
The telco derived €132 million from its TV business in the first nine months of 2010, compared to €93 million for the equivalent period on 2009.
However, there is a price to be paid for success in the heavily competitive Belgian market, as a reduction in activation and installation fees brought down ARPU by 2% to €19.7 compared to one year ago.
Belgacom has its own ‘Content Everywhere’ strategy known as Belgacom Entertainment with the objective of allowing customers to view any content, on any device, anywhere and anytime. Investments have been made in OnLive, which will provide instant-play, high-performance video games, delivered seamlessly through TV, PCs, phones and tablets to Belgacom Entertainment customers in Belgium and Luxembourg. It has also entered into partnerships with Belgian company in3Depth Systems an expert in 3D-gesture recognition technology.
