Swisscom increases TV base in face of stiff competition

Swisscom grew its TV base by 13.3% year-on-year to the end of September, despite what it described as “fierce competition” from cable operators.

Swisscom said it had 688,000 TV 2.0 customers on its books at the end of September, out of a total TV base of 1.275 million. TV 2.0 custoemrs increased by 124,000 in the third quarter, most of whom upgraded from another offering

The overall TV base grew by 37,000 in the third quarter. Fixed-feee subscriptions account for 1.11 million of the overall TV base.

The number of retail fixed-line broadband connections saw a year-on-year increase of 65,000 or 3.5% to 1.94 million. The growth in the number of TV and broadband connections – up 152,000 together – more than offset the decline in the number of fixed network connections, according to Swisscom. The number of revenue generating units increased year-on-year by 182,000 or 1.5% to 12.5 million.

By the end of September 2015, the number of customers using a bundled package had increased year-on-year by 202,000 or 17.5% to 1.36 million. Revenue from bundled contracts rose year-on-year by CHF 242 million or 17.2% to CHF 1,647 million.

Swisccom’s Italian subsidiary Fastweb  saw its broadband business grow by 156,000 or 7.7% to 2.17 million over the year.