Proximus subscribers turn off TV as new convergent offers grow base

Belgian telco Proximus says that a growing number of its customers are choosing new offers that do not include TV, leading to a drop of 13,000 TV subscriptions in its Q3 numbers.

Guillaume Boutin

The group said that the quarter had seen strong growth in its mobile base, with 33,000 mobile post-paid additions, while the group added 6,000 broadband customers.

Proximus said that it saw an “emerging trend” towards take-up of bundles that do not include TV, contributing to the losses in the TV base. For the same period last year, the telco added 5,000 TV customers.

Proximus CEO Guillaume Boutin said that the group’s recently-launched Flex XS pack and Mobile Vikings Internet offer highlighted the trend.

Despite losses in TV, the success of convergent offerings meant that the number of customers combining fixed and mobile services increased by 12,000 during the quarter.

“Our customer base continued its progress towards convergent offers, with residential customers combining Fixed and Mobile increasing by 12,000 over the past three months,” said Boutin.

“This trend was supported by the new offers launched earlier this year. While retaining customers within the Proximus family, our Proximus Flex XS pack and the Mobile Vikings Internet offer are clearly addressing evolving needs of certain customer segments. Especially during the Back-to-School season we noted a lower take-up of TV subscriptions in the customer acquisition mix.”

The overall impact of the changes meant that Proximus’ overall TV base remained more or less flat year-on-year, standing at 1.708 million, up 0.6% on the same period in 2021.

The group’s overall domestic underlying revenue grew 3.6% to €1.125 billion for the quarter. Domestic EBITDA for the qaurter was up 0.4% to €426 million.