How well did Liberty Global perform in Central and Eastern Europe in the second quarter?
To get an idea, it is worth studying not only the company’s latest set of results but also referring to the releases from some of its UPC operations in the region that accompanies them, along with snippets of information contained in the local press.
Take Poland, for instance. We can see that UPC Polska’s services reached over 2.8 million homes as of the end of June, a 41,200 increase on six months earlier. Also, 85.5% of its internet customers chose speeds of 30 Mbps and above, while 36% of the total client base opted for triple-play services.
UPC Polska has recently expanded its activities to a number of new locations and it is noted that in the second quarter these included the city of Plock. While its TV subscriber total fell by 3,500 in the second quarter, it gained 6,700 internet and 9,400 telephony subscribers.
Meanwhile, in Romania UPC’s business was boosted by two acquisitions of small cable companies in Prahova county. These helped revenues grow by 10.8% in the second quarter, compared to the same period last year.
UPC Romania is the country’s second largest cable operator and had over 1.192 million customers as of the end of Q2, which was 14,600 more than three months earlier and 34,300 up on the same period in 2014.
While UPC Romania’s TV, internet and telephony subscriber totals all grew significantly in the second quarter – up 12,000, 16,800 and 14,600 respectively in three months earlier – Liberty’s DTH operation Focus Sat did not perform so well, losing 4,400 to end June with 312,800. This was perhaps not surprising, given the highly competitive nature of the Romanian DTH market.
UPC Romania notes that it increased the coverage of its digital services by almost 10% in the year to June 30. As of then, they were available to over 500,000 more people than in the same period in 2014.
And what of Liberty’s three other markets in the region? Looking at the subscriber figures, it seems steady as she goes in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with gains seen almost across the board in TV, internet, telephony and DTH take-up in the second quarter. The only exceptions were the total TV figure in Slovakia, which fell by 2,900, and telephony in the Czech Republic, down by 1,800.
Liberty currently provides mobile services in two CEE markets – Hungary and Poland – and while the number of subscribers in the former rose by 5,300 to 20,400 in the second quarter it fell by 800 to 8,600 in the latter. All told, there were 29,000 receiving such services as of the end of Q2, compared to nearly 4.508 million in Western Europe.
As to Horizon, we await the latest updates of how well the advanced TV service is doing in Central and Eastern Europe.
