The German cable operators have gained around 600,000 new internet customers last year and currently serve 6.6 million households with broadband internet access.
According to figures released by German cable operator industry association ANGA, cable customers tend to sign up for high data rates: Every third cable internet subscriber currently opts for speeds of 100Mbps or more.
“With offers of up to 400Mbps and an availability in 72% of households, cable operators stay on the fast lane in the broadband internet market in 2016,” ANGA president Thomas Braun said in Bonn. “Upcoming standard DOCSIS 3.1 will again considerably increase the capabilities of the cable networks from 2017.”
Growing figures are also posted by the cable companies regarding demand for pay-TV. Further 260,000 households signed up for subscription fee-based additional programme packages in 2015, pushing up the total number of pay-TV cable households to 3.76 million – an increase by 7% compared with 2014.
The total number of cable TV households remained almost unchanged at 17.9 million.
72.5% of cable households receive digital television. According to ANGA, the end of 2018 is a realistic target to accomplish nationwide analogue switch-off on cable. As the first German cable operator, Unitymedia will terminate analogue TV broadcasts on its cable network on June 30, 2017.
The ANGA market figures can be downloaded in two fact sheets (German language) from its website.
