Thursday, October 23, 2014

Mobistar delays entry in cable TV market

Mobistar buildingBelgian operator Mobistar is delaying the rollout of its broadband and TV offer on cable until sometime next year.
The company said during its Q3 financial presentation that it is ready to launch services over third-party networks, both technically and in terms of content, but is awaiting a regulatory decision on wholesale pricing before a full-scale rollout. Last January, the operator paid a total of €1.2m to Telenet and Brutélé-Tecteo in order to gain access to their cable networks.
In February 2014 Mobistar decided to appeal against the cable wholesale pricing decisions made by the regulators on December 11, 2013. It also decided to intervene in the appeals launched by the cable operators against the same decisions, as well as to intervene in the appeal cases launched by the same cable operators against the decisions on the qualitative aspects of the cable wholesale reference offers of September 3, 2013. The next steps in these proceedings depend on the result of the appeal against the market analysis decisions, the company said.
However, despite the delays, Mobistar confirmed it will have its first very high-speed broadband and digital TV cable users connected before the end of the year, as the first step of its progressive entry in the convergent market.
“We are increasingly seeing the positive results of the bold decisions we have taken, when launching our three-year transformation program 21 months ago. Our 4G network leadership is now undisputed and is increasingly being recognised by the Belgian consumers. Now that we have reengineered our distribution, our segmented product portfolio is delivering on its potential. In the third quarter of 2014 Mobistar is growing its retail postpaid customer base while not yet being a convergent player. The upcoming launch of Mobistar’s own cable offerings will reinforce this newfound momentum,” commented Jean-Marc Harion, CEO of Mobistar.
Last September, Mobistar announced details of its cable offer.

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