Cyfrowy Polsat adds TV customers, loses mobile users in Q3

Poland's Cyfrowy Polsat reported third-quarter revenues of PLN 2.42 billion, up from PLN 677 million a year earlier thanks to its takeover of mobile operator Polkomtel. EBITDA grew to PLN 910 million from PLN 268 million, giving the company a margin of 37.6 percent, while net profit fell to PLN 48 million from PLN 176 million due to financing costs for the acquisition and restructuring of the company. Capital expenditure increased to PLN 95 million from PLN 36 million a year ago. 

The group finished September with 16.45 million revenue-generating units, down 1.1 percent from a year earlier due mainly to fewer mobile customers. The number of contract mobile customers fell to 6.63 million from 6.67 million reported at the end of June, and prepaid users dropped over the same period to 3.89 million from 3.92 million. The company said the drop in mobile voice customers was slowing, and it will continue to promote bundled service offerings to reduce churn in the competitive market. Its smartDom offer launched in February has already attracted 380,000 customers and averages 3.1 services per customer. 

In the pay-TV market, Cyrfrowy Polsat grew 4.4 percent year-on-year to 4.34 million contract customers, an increase of around 100,000 from Q2. It also had almost 70,000 prepaid TV users. In the internet market, the company grew its base 38.9 percent year-on-year to 1.27 million subscribers thanks to the expansion of LTE offers, and also counted almost 250,000 prepaid internet users. 

ARPU from contract customers was down 1.2 percent year-on-year to PLN 86.5, hurt by termination rate cuts and price pressure, while prepaid ARPU was slightly higher at PLN 18.3. Cyfrowy Polsat also reported an improvement in market share at its broadcast unit, claiming 24.1 percent of the Polish audience and 26.3 percent of the TV advertising market in Q3.