Greece’s Forthnet saw a sharp decline of 11.2% in its pay-TV subscriber total in 2016, ending the year with 439,404.
The company’s broadband subscriber total also fell, by 9.2% to 581,739, as did the number of households with triple-play/bundled services, by 12.9% to 301,552.
Although Forthnet’s normalised revenue in 2016, at €325,115,000, was down 7.8% on the previous year, adjusted EBITDA was 8.6% higher at €54,836,000.
Commenting on the results, Forthnet’s CEO Panos Papadopoulos said: “The continuing recession has decreased the purchasing power of Greek consumers in 2016, while the imposition of a new 10% tax on pay-TV and Superleague’s underperformance have affected our subscriber base. In this adverse macroeconomic environment, we maintained a cautious commercial policy and focused on improving the company’s cost base. As a result, the company achieved an improvement in EBITDA, in spite of the decline in total revenues. Following the convertible bond issuance that fulfilled the requirements for the refinancing of existing bank debt, the company is focusing on its operating plans and on innovative services that improve the customer experience”.
