Advanced Television

IHS: Cable growth continues

November 16, 2018

Latest figures published by IHS Markit and Cable Europe show the number of cable homes in Europe once again grew year on year in 2017, reaching 69.2 million and comprising 36.3 per cent of all television households. Revenue generating units (RGUs) rose year on year to 127.5 million.

Consolidated full year data, released in the European Broadband Cable Yearbook 2018, shows that an increase in Internet subscriptions is largely responsible for this rise.

Annual total cable revenue also continued the steady growth path, reaching €25.9 billion last year, up 2 per cent compared to 2016.  In terms of revenue growth, internet was the best performing category, with revenue rising 4 per cent to €9 billion in 2017.

Matthias Kurth, Executive Chairman of Cable Europe, said: “Cable has the lead in Next Generation Access subscriptions – those signing up for 30Mbps and above.  With the ongoing upgrades to the latest technology specification – DOCSIS 3.1 – we are set to remain frontrunners in the gigabit race.”

Caroline van Weede, Cable Europe Managing Director, added: “In a time of extraordinary change, the narrative behind these latest figures shows that the cable sector and its fibre-powered networks are paving the way for Europe’s digital society whilst building on consumer trust in the quality of our products.  This is borne out by increased revenues in 2017, with internet services again leading the growth curve, and the strong performance of video services.  Continuous network upgrades and new service functionalities support this success.  The sector is growing despite the ferociously competitive nature of the market in which we operate and the enormous choice open to today’s consumers. This speaks for itself”.

Categories: Articles, Broadband, Cable, Markets, Research