Brussels, 12/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - Europe's cable industry continued to grow in 2011, with record revenue of €19.9 billion last year, figures released at the Cable Congress last week (7-9 March) reveal. Cable continued to be successful in converting existing customers to digital services, and in attracting new customers through its television, internet and telephony “triple play” services. With growth of +7% on the previous year, triple play services played large part in increasing the industry's overall revenue. By way of comparison, the increase was +6% in 2010 and +3% in 2009. “These growth figures prove that investments in next generation services are really bearing fruit and that cable operators are more than holding their own against other platforms even in today's highly competitive, highly dynamic markets”, said Cable Europe President Manuel Kohnstamm. Growth in digital television is seen as strategic for the industry due to the potential for lucrative add-on revenues in the future as TV viewing becomes more interactive. “Europe's cable industry is ready to transform Europe's pay television landscape in the same way as it has revolutionised broadband markets by aggressively rolling out new digital TV services”, industry experts told the Cable Congress. However, for the cable industry to be able to compete with often much larger rivals, there has to be the correct regulatory framework in place to ensure free and fair competition, they argued.
At the Cable Congress, cable operators told Digital Strategy Commissioner Neelie Kroes that they were concerned at the Dutch Bill which would force cable operators to open up their networks to competitors. Three provisions in particular worry them. Two relate to the transposition of the telecoms directive into Dutch law and the third the country's media law. Cable operators question whether the Bill complies with European legislation which recommends access to infrastructure only where market analysis identifies a dominant position. Commissioner Kroes, too, was concerned about the issue and said clearly that the European Commission would use all its powers to oppose the provisions which are not in line with EU telecoms rules. (IL/transl.rt)