Telenor Broadcast closed 2013 with a strong quarter, amid signs that it is beginning to arrest the subscriber erosion of its Canal Digital satellite platform.
“The figures from the fourth quarter show that the Broadcast companies finished 2013 very strongly. There is still a strong foundation and potential for growth in our industry. All of Telenor Broadcast’s companies have delivered good results in recent years. Now what we have to do is continue to manage these, and maintain a steady course,” says CEO Patrik Hofbauer.
In a highly competitive market, Hofbauer says the company us getting increasingly close to its goal of stabilising the Nordic customer base at over 900,000 customers. It had a total of 929,000 customers at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013, down from the 945,000 at the end of 2012, but with Sweden marginally ahead on 307,000.
The Telenor Satellite division has seen consistent growth. As of December 2013, 1?West reaches 17,296,550 TV households throughout Europe including 9 million in Central & East Europe.
Technology company Conax saw a considerable upswing in smart card sales. Revenues increased by 14% in the fourth quarter with EBITDA up by 33%. In the fourth quarter, Conax also launched its new Cardless product, that enables secure distribution of content in environments that don’t require the ultimate security of smart cards. “Market feedback on this product has been excellent, and it will be exciting to see how the sales of Cardless progress as we move into 2014”, says Hofbauer.
