How well did Liberty Global perform in Central and Eastern Europe in the third quarter?
In Poland, the standout figures were arguably for the take-up of UPC’s advanced services. Connect Box (+58,000) and the Horizon platform (+63,000) both gained significantly more users in Q3, ending September with 300,000 and 420,000 respectively.
On the other hand, the number of internet (+5,500) and digital TV (+2,600) customers grew more slowly, to 1,123,000 and 1,016,500 respectively. All told, UPC had 2,958,300 as of the end of Q3, or 33,300 more than a year earlier.
Furthermore, thanks to the continued expansion of its fibre network the operator reached at total of 3.3 million homes, adding 39,000 to the total in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, in the Czech Republic, the number of Connect Box and Horizon users at the end of September stood at 116,600 and 240,100 respectively, internet (+5,700) and TV (+6,500) take-up increased slightly in the quarter to 492,100 and 521,000 respectively. The number of RGUs, at 1,166,100, was 12,200 up on the same period last year, while the number of homes reached by UPC’s cable network was 1,482,700, or 17,300 more than three months earlier.
Similar trends, though with smaller figures, were recorded in Slovakia, where UPC’s operation is now integated with that in the Czech Republic. There, the number of Connect Box and Horizon users at the end of September stood at 41,500 and 91,000 respectively, while internet (+1,300) and TV (+400) take-up increased slightly in the quarter to 128,300 and 164,300 respectively. The number of RGUs, at 369,400, was 1,500 up on the same period last year, while the number of homes reached by UPC’s cable network was 581,200, or 4,700 more than three months earlier.
In Romania, take-up of the Connect Box (300,000) was much higher than that of Horizon (100,000) at the end of Q3. There was also a fine balance between the take up of internet (568,700), digital TV (663,400) and telephony (519,600) customers, with the latter number (+16%) growing most strongly in the year to September 30. The total numer of UPC Romania and Focus Sat (DTH) customers was 1,321,900 at the end of Q3, or 62,500 (+5%) more than a year earlier.
Although such detailed figured were not available for Hungary at the time of writing, in Liberty’s general results we can see that the cable operation gained 12,300 enhanced video subscribers in Q3, while at the same time losing 8,900 basic video customers.
While all these trends were largely positive, on the down side Liberty’s DTH operations in CEE continued to find the going tough in what are highly competitive markets.
Only Focus Sat in Romania (+3,000) gained customers in Q3, with the biggest loss being seen by UPC Direct (-8,000) in Hungary. The overall total in the four markets fell by 8,300.
To summarise, Liberty generally had a good third quarter. Take-up of its advanced services continued apace and the introduction of its Happy Home package has proved a success.