Cable operators' strategy, the competitive landscape for 17 European countries, and development forecasts up to 2005.
• European market assessment:- competitive landscape and strategies deployed by the players;- technical and regulatory environments;- evolution in terms of service and profitability.
• Detailed profile of 17 Western European countries:- history and key data (number of subscribing homes and network deployment);- the players involved;- prospects up to 2005.
• Profiles of 12 cable operators:- key data: market data and financial results;- internationalisation strategies, service offerings and developments.Long considered as a medium for broadcasting TV services, cable has developed rapidly as a result of the introduction of competition in the telecommunications market and various tech nological advancements (digitisation, Internet, broadband access, etc.).
Several reasons serve to explain the resurgence of investments in European cable infrastructures:
• Television: competition from digital satellite and digital terrestrial TV services has spurred cable operators to digitise their infrastruc tures and propose more modular offerings and new services (programme guides, interactive TV services, etc.);
• Internet: cable’s inherent assets make it prime high-speed Internet access channel in comparison to the limitations of telephone modems and the sluggish deployment of DSL technologies;
• Telephony: cable is the only alternative to the telephone local loop which has already been deployed in most European countries;
• Convergence: because of its ability to deliver new convergence-enabled services (VOD, videophony, etc.) cable is perhaps turning into a multi-service platform combining television, high-speed Internet and telephone, as well as giving rise to an original marketing strategy, as demonstrated in the United Kingdom.
However, cable’s market position is far from stable in the face of the aggressiveness of alternative technologies (satellite, DSL, LMDS, UMTS, DTH).
Significant investments are required to upgrade occasionally outmoded networks in a context where the cable players’ financial situation is frequently precarious.
What place can cable really occupy within this context?
• Should the cable industry consider itself first and foremost as a carrier or a “super-pipe” industry? Or should it continue to develop its close relationship with the programme industry to the point of fostering vertical integration strategies?
• What capacity does cable have in Europe to expand its revenue base by bringing new products onto the market? Given the development of rival high-speed technologies, is European cable in a position to increase its revenues per subscriber on a mid and longterm basis?
• Although bundling is still the cable operator’s major trump card, is this combination of service offerings sufficient to secure subscriber preference and loyalty? Will it open the way to profitability for Europe’s cable operators?