Belgacom gained 65,000 TV subscriptions in the first quarter, with the total TV customer base climbing to 1,657,000.
According to the telco, the increase corresponded to the total number of set-top boxes and included multiple units.
Belgacom’s share of the digital TV market in Belgium stood at 33.9% in Q1, up 1.9 percentage points on the total a year earlier. Its Scarlet product attracted 16,000 former Snow customers in the quarter.
Belgacom’s underlying revenues in Q1 amounted to €1,479 million, or 5.5% more than in the same period last year. Its underlying core revenue increased by 3.3% thanks largely to growth in TV and internet services, and EBITDA was €423 million (+3.8%).
Commenting on the results, Dominique Leroy, CEO of Belgacom Group, said: “I’m proud to announce we had a successful start of the year 2015, with both financial and operational achievements supporting our 2016 ambition to return to sustainable growth.
“Besides a continued growth in our Mobile customer base, the commercial performance of our Fixed products was particularly strong in the first three months of the year, driven by our main brands Proximus and Scarlet. Where Proximus continued to benefit somewhat from the year-end promotions, and a positive rebranding effect, Scarlet achieved a record customer gain by successfully attracting former Snow customers.
“The sustained rise in our customer base also benefited our financial performance, with both Fixed and Mobile service revenue showing growth versus last year. Moreover, the financial performance of the Group was favourably influenced by a strong result for BICS. This, however, was largely driven by positive though volatile impacts from currency and voice trading.
“Overall I’m pleased and encouraged by our achievements so far. The company is making good progress on our ‘Fit for Growth’-strategy, and is already reaping some of the benefits. We can therefore with confidence reiterate our 2015 outlook.”
