Euskaltel sees strong take-up of Android TV box

Two months on from its acquisition of Asturias operator Telecable from UK-based Zegona Communications, Spanish Basque Country-based cable operator Euskaltel has seen its pay TV base grow by 127,000 year-on-year to 394,000 in the year to September, and has seen strong take-up of its new Android TV-based box.

The company said that its on-going TV growth had been boosted by its high-value offering and by the launch of its new 4K Android TV box the first in the Spanish market. Some 10,000 new-generation boxes have been activated since September.

Growth in the TV base to September took Euskaltel to about 68% penetration of its overall base.

Euskaltel, including Telecable, also saw a strong boost to its mobile base, adding 161,000 lines in the year to September. The combined company had 915,000 mobile lines activated at the end of the quarter.

The company’s management have made a commitment to further invest in the modernization of Euskaltel’s network in the coming months, upgrading more areas to DOCSIS 3.1. Over half of the network in the Basque Country is now upgraded to the latest version of DOCSIS, and Euskaltel said this would be extended to Asturias and Galicia, where it owns local cable operator R.

Euskaltel posted revenues of €444 million for the first nine months of the year, up 3.2%. It posted EBITDA of €219.3 million, up 4.7% with an EBITDA margin of 49.4%, up from 48.7%. Residential sales overall were up by 17.5% despite what the company described as a strongly competitive market.