After years of declining fortunes, European cable operators are seeing their share of the broadband market level out, or even grow.
The cable sector gained a first-mover advantage when they upgraded their already-extensive networks across Europe in the late 1990s. That lead started to disappear as incumbents rolled out ubiquitous DSL and regulators mandated wholesale access in the form of bitstream and local loop unbundling. Telco broadband was in the ascendancy.
Correspondingly, by 4Q 2003, DSL had overtaken cable modems in terms of broadband subscriber penetration, even in markets where cable operators had been extremely successful, like the Netherlands. Since then, the proportion of broadband subscribers signed up by cable operators has fallen continually.
However, some cablecos are seeing their declining fortunes flatten out. For example, in Switzerland, the proportion of broadband connections represented by cable rose for the first time in the latest quarterly figures (3Q 2008).
In Austria – where mobile broadband subscriptions account for the highest proportion of broadband in any European country – the prospects for cable operators are starting to look brighter. Although the largest cableco, UPC TeleKabel, is losing market share, the cable sector as a whole in that country has ceased to shrink, showing a marginal increase of 0.1% market share over the last two quarters. This increased pressure has forced incumbent telco Telekom Austria to substantially reduce the prices of its key bundled offerings in order to protect market share.
Further analysis of the renewed prospects for cable operators can be found in Analysys Mason’s comment article, Cable operators are beginning to regain broadband market share. In-depth figures on fixed and mobile voice and broadband for operators across Europe can be found in Analysys Mason’s Telecoms Market Matrix.