Orange Belgium will increase its revenue market share if it succeeds in the takeover of cable operator Voo, but still remain in third place on the Belgian market, according to the latest research from Telecompaper. Based on Q3 2021 results, the combination of Voo and Orange would take around 24 percent of service revenues on the Belgian telecom market, behind Telenet with over 30 percent and Proximus with more than 43 percent. Total revenues on the Belgian market rose 1.2 percent year-on-year to EUR 1.7 billion in Q3 2021.
The figures come from the latest edition of Telecompaper’s quarterly Belgian Total Communications market report. This shows that Orange accounted for 16.6 percent of service revenues in Belgium in Q3 2021, followed by Voo in fourth place with 7.4 percent of revenues.
In terms of the number of subscriptions, the new combination would come much closer to taking second place. Together Orange and Voo counted over 7.5 million subscriptions for mobile, broadband, fixed telephony or TV service at the end of September, equal to a market share of 27.8 percent. Telenet is just slightly bigger, with a 28.0 percent share of subscriptions at the end of Q3. Incumbent Proximus is still clearly in the lead with just over 40 percent of the market.
Orange was selected in November to enter exclusive negotiations with Voo on the takeover, beating Telenet to the deal. If a final agreement is reached by the end of 2021 as expected, Orange will have its own fixed network across the south Belgium and parts of the Brussels capital region. Telenet meanwhile misses out on creating a nationwide footprint, with its cable network covering only Flanders in the north and the rest of Brussels. Orange already uses the Voo and Telenet networks for wholesale services, and Telenet will need to decide if it wants to do the same to reach the rest of the country.
In addition to its own fixed infrastructure, Orange acquires Voo’s customer base. Voo operates its own MVNO on the Telenet/Base network and so would likely switch to the Orange mobile network. Orange also will be able to target Voo’s cable customers with its mobile offers, potentially expanding its share on the mobile market and its FMC customer base. Telecompaper estimates that only around a third of Voo’s customers take mobile services from the company, leaving significant room for cross-selling and further growth in market share.
The above figures come from the Belgian Total Communications Market report, with the Q3 2021 edition now available for purchase on the Telecompaper website. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the Belgian telecom market, including data on connections and revenues split by operator, network technology and multi-play segments and extensive information on market trends. For more information, please contact research@telecompaper.com.
