At September 30, 2018, Telenet served 2,135,700 unique customer relationships, which represented approximately 64% of the 3,341,700 homes passed in Flanders and Brussels.
The operator said that it enjoys continued commercial traction for its quad-play “WIGO” bundles, including net additions of 10,300subscribers in Q3 2018 to reach 361,400 “WIGO” subscribers at September 30, 2018.
Commercial performance in the quarter was impacted by higher churn in the acquired SFR footprint following the operator’s accelerated customer migration strategy, skewing the underlying trend.
At September 30, 2018, the operator provided 4,908,200 fixed services (RGUs) consisting of 1,966,200 video, 1,666,500 broadband internet and 1,275,500 fixed-line telephony subscriptions. In addition, approximately 89% of its video subscribers had upgraded to the higher ARPU enhanced video platform at September 30, 2018.
“The third quarter was characterised by a continued intensely competitive environment, underpinned by aggressive back- to-school promotions from our direct competitors,” said John Porter, Telenet CEO.
“The net subscriber trend for our advanced fixed services of enhanced video, broadband internet and fixed-line telephony in Q3 2018 was impacted by higher churn in the acquired SFR footprint in Brussels as part of our accelerated customer migration strategy and from the July 2018 price adjustments. Excluding the impact from the SFR subscriber migrations, the underlying net subscriber trend across the Telenet footprint would have been better.
“Against a competitive market backdrop, characterised by temporary price promotions and improved offers launched by our direct competitors, our net postpaid subscriber growth decelerated during the quarter to 9,500. Our “WIGO” quad- play customer base continued to grow, reaching 361,400 subscribers at September 30, 2018 and representing a solid net inflow of 10,300 fully converged subscribers in the third quarter. At September 30, 2018, around 17% of our cable customers subscribed to any of our “WIGO” bundles versus around 12% a year earlier.
“We continue to focus on providing a great customer experience and seamless superior connectivity on all networks and devices. In early October, we launched “Telenet TV”, our new TV platform offering an unparalleled content experience for our customers across multiple devices and platforms. In that respect, we launched the “Free G” option for both our current and future “WIGO” customers, enabling them to use certain apps, including our “Yelo Play” and “Play Sports” apps, “Whatsapp” and “Facebook Messenger” without impacting their mobile data allowance.”
