How well are Deutsche Telekom’s operations in Central and Eastern Europe performing?
A look the latest sets of results shows that they are largely holding their own in what are for the most part highly competitive pay-TV markets.
Take Magyar Telekom, for instance. It ended the second quarter with just over one million subscribers to its TV services in Hungary, a reasonable increase of 3.6% on the total a year earlier. The company’s TV business its revenues grow by 5.1% year-on-year, boosted by a new TV portfolio and price increases.
Although no longer present in Montenegro, Magyar Telekom could also point to a good showing by its Macedonian subsidiary, which saw both its revenues (+10%) and TV subscriber total (+6.6%) grow impressively in the year to June 30.
The clear message from Magyar Telekom was one of progress, especially in the rollout of broadband services in its home market.
Meanwhile, Croatia’s Hrvatski Telekom saw its TV subscriber total grow by 5.2% in the year to June 30, reaching 411,000. Its ARPU nevertheless fell by 0.9% over the same period.
Hrvatski Telekom now controls the Montenegrin operation previously owned by Magyar Telekom and clearly has some work to do to bring it up to the same level of performance as the main Croatian service. Stemming a decline in pay-TV subscribers, down by 6.4% in the year to June 30, will clearly be a priority.
Hrvatski Telekom can nevertheless take comfort in the fact that it is very much at the forefront of innovation in Croatia’s TV market.
Telekom Romania, on the other hand, still finds itself in a period of transition. While its Greek parent company OTE, which is backed by Deutsche Telekom, is enjoying success with Cosmote TV, Telekom Romania could only point to a very modest increase in its TV customer base – up 0.6% to 1.471 million – in the year to June 30.
With pay-TV penetration in Romania close to 100% – the figure stood at 97% as of the end of 2016, according to the regulator ANCOM – there is little scope for organic growth, either for Telekom Romania or its main competitors RCS&RDS and UPC.
The name of the game is acquiring smaller operators whenever possible and holding on to existing subscribers.
Meanwhile, Slovak Telekom could point to a successful first half of 2017, gaining 38,000 digital TV customers. The total, 574,000 as of June 30, included Digi TV and was 12.8% more than a year earlier.
