Altice ended 2016 with 6,740,000 customers receiving pay-TV services via fibre or cable, up from 6,575,000 a year earlier.
It added 49,000 pay-TV subscribers in Q4, compared to 75,000 in the corresponding period in 2015.
Its fibre/cable RGU total stood at 19,538,000 (18,550,000), while RGU per fibre/cable customer varied significantly in the territories it was present in, being highest for Optimum in the US (€142.9 v €137.5 in Q4 2015) and lowest in the Dominican Republic (€37.6 v €36.7 in Q4 2015).
As of the end of 2016, Altice also had 3,189,000 customers receiving its TV services via DSL and non-fibre, including DTH, down from 3,647,000 a year earlier.
Looking at specific markets, Altice notes that in Portugal Meo returned to growth in Q4 2016 after 32 quarters of decline, while in Israel, HOT’s cable customer base, down 3,000 in Q4 2016, remains stable with recent improvements in churn and quality of service.
In France, where Altice returned the growth in Q4 after 24 quarters of decline, the focus has been on improving network quality, customer experience, retention processes and content enriched service bundles (the “Altice Way”).
Altice’s group revenues in Q4 amounted to €6,087 million, up 2.7% year-on-year, while adjusted EBITDA was €2,286 million (+15.7%).
Commenting on the results, CEO Michel Combes said: “2016 was a pivotal year for Altice as we successfully transformed the Group into a leading, transatlantic converged communications player. Our business is stronger than ever and we have put all the building blocks in place for continued profitable growth.
“Our 2016 performance has validated the Altice Model as we’ve been very focused on execution, seeing an advanced turnaround in Europe and stronger US performance. Indeed, since Altice took control of the major businesses it has acquired, France and Portugal have returned to revenue growth for the first time in many years, and growth in the US has significantly accelerated. This growth has been driven by our clear strategy:
Attract the best talent to create and provide the best customer experience, the best infrastructure and the best content.
We continue to invest in these areas to differentiate our offers, expand our capabilities and expertise, and add new revenue sources to the group.
“We are proud of our global network commitments – during 2016 we upgraded over 9 million homes for higher speed broadband services and more than doubled the number of 4G mobile sites in France. We have a leading commitment to fibre with rapid deployments across the group and technological innovation well in advance of our peers. All of this investment is being facilitated by driving significant efficiency savings across every one of our businesses, supported by completing our internal reorganization to leverage our new scale. The combination of growth and margin expansion confirms our original investment thesis when we entered all of the markets where we now have operations. We firmly believe this strategy will continue to support our growth well into the future.”
