Tele Columbus commits to expand 400Mbps service

Tele Columbus CEO and chairman, Ronny Verhelst.

German cable operator Tele Columbus has said it will extend its 400Mbps internet service, currently available in Potsdam, to other cities in its footprint.

The cable operator said it would increase the proportion of two-way upgraded networks connected to own signals to more than 60% by year-end, and would increase capex in 2015 to between €110-€120 million.

Tele Columbus has reported strong first quarter numbers, boosted by internet subscriber growth, up 13.5% year-on-year to 208,000. Telephony RGUs also grew by 13.5% to reach 175,000, giving Tele Columbus a total of 1.84 million RGUs, up from 1.81 million a year earlier. The number of RGUs per customer grew from 1.42 to 1.46 over the year.

Revenues grew by 2.2% year on year to €53.6 million in the first quarter of 2015. Normalised EBITDA grew by 11.7% year-on-year to €24.4 million in Q1. Operating margin improved to 45.5% of revenue in Q1 compared to 41.6% in the same period in 2014.

“The successful IPO of Tele Columbus in January was clearly this year’s most important event so far to support our growth strategy,” said Ronny Verhelst, CEO of Tele Columbus.

“In the first quarter of 2015, we continued our profitable growth, based on our clearly defined strategy and our superior cable network. We focused on further network migration and up- and cross selling of additional products to our strong customer base, thereby continuing to strengthen our market position.”