TalkTalk Group 2011/12 H1 results: continuing strong financial performance, cloudier longer term outlook
TalkTalk Group’s H1 results saw a disappointing increase in subscriber churn, causing a minor downward revision to revenue and volume guidance for the current financial year
Management is making good progress in reducing costs and the company remains on track to meet its financial guidance for the full year
Customer satisfaction is improving and subscriber volume is expected to stabilise by June 2012. But the strength of competition from BT Retail raises questions about the potential for future growth in revenue and hence cash flow |
Fixed line, Telecoms |
November 2011 Access this report
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UK broadband and telephony trends to Q3 2011, residential broadband projections to 2016
In this presentation we show our analysis of trends in UK broadband and telephony to September 2011, together with our latest projections for residential broadband subscribers and market shares to 2016. Highlights for the 2011 September quarter include accelerating growth in the number of subscribers to high speed broadband, and the continuing increase in market share of BT Retail and BSkyB at the expense of virtually all other players. This quarter’s edition includes a look at high speed broadband pricing, and our take on the new guidelines on broadband advertising. |
Fixed line, Telecoms |
December 2011 Access this report
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Digital platform growth post analogue
As Phase 1 digital shift from broadcast analogue to digital nears completion, individual platform growth trends have almost flattened out
The most likely area of change in platform trends over the next ten years concerns basic only subscription pay-TV, where we anticipate an overall increase in the total pay-TV base and change in platform balance arising from the introduction of low price basic packages |
Media, TV |
December 2011 Access this report
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Virgin Media's cable broadband speed upgrade: put that in your pipe
Virgin Media’s plan to double the line speed of most of its broadband customers is the latest in a series of moves to retain its position as the leading high speed internet service provider in the face of BT’s deployment of next generation access (NGA)
The move presages further price increases and an upgrade to offers for new cable customers, but is in the first instance about retaining the large existing base of cable customers currently on 10 Mbit/s |
Media, Fixed line, Internet, Telecoms |
January 2012 Access this report
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Netflix faces uphill battle in the UK
The launch of Netflix in the UK and Ireland has ignited the debate on the threat from over-the-top video to pay-TV services from Sky, Virgin Media and BT
Unlike in the US, Netflix’s UK prospects and those of competitors such as Lovefilm, are fundamentally limited, given the availability of low priced pay-TV with strong on-demand components included for free
The impact of Netflix on the UK pay-TV industry is therefore likely to be even smaller than the (hard to discern) effect it has had in the US |
Media, TV, Internet, Technology |
January 2012 Access this report
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BT Q3 2011/12 results: reasonable progress, on balance
BT’s results for the December quarter saw continuing trends of gradual improvement at BT Retail and efficient deployment of next generation access at Openreach, plus strong control of unallocated property costs, enabling management to issue slightly improved group-level guidance for the current financial year to March
Cash flow growth at group level continued to be compromised by the cost of overseas expansion at Global Services and a continuing shift to LLU and IP-based services at BT Wholesale |
Media, Fixed line, Internet, Telecoms |
February 2012 Access this report
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Enders Analysis' Annual Conference
Enders Analysis co-hosted its annual conference, in conjunction with BNP Paribas and Deloitte, in London on 19 January 2012. The event featured talks by 13 of the most influential figures in media and telecoms, and was chaired by Sir Peter Bazalgette. An edited transcript of notes taken during the speaker presentations follows. |
Media, Technology, Telecoms |
February 2012 Access this report
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Cable & Wireless Worldwide: Turnaround or acquisition, easier said than done
Cable & Wireless Worldwide’s new CEO Gavin Darby has outlined a turnaround strategy for a business which is not performing that badly in context, against the backdrop of Vodafone considering a bid to buy the company
Mr Darby’s strategy is yet to be finalised, but in outline contains lots of initiatives which are good in theory but hard to implement in practice, especially in a weak macroeconomic climate, in the face of intense competition |
Mobile, Fixed line, Telecoms |
February 2012 Access this report
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UK fixed telecoms market: broadband and telephony trends to Q4 2011
In this presentation we show our analysis of trends in UK broadband and telephony to December 2011, based on the published results of the major service providers.
Highlights for the December quarter include a return to the lower rate of broadband market growth seen prior to mid-2010, accelerating growth in the number of subscribers to high speed broadband and the continuing increase in market share of BT Retail and BSkyB at the expense of virtually all other players
This quarter’s edition includes a look at Openreach’s wholesale FTTP On Demand, planned for launch in 2013. |
Media, Fixed line, Internet, Telecoms |
February 2012 Access this report
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Vodafone and Cable & Wireless Worldwide: a UK telecoms milestone in prospect
Vodafone’s proposed acquisition of Cable & Wireless Worldwide is far from a done deal and is unlikely to be completed until September
The cost synergies are real but likely slim, with the main rationale being to cost effectively expand Vodafone’s fixed enterprise business in the UK, and to gain the expertise to do this elsewhere |
Mobile, Fixed line, Telecoms |
April 2012 Access this report
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BT Q4 and full year 2011/12 results: workmanlike
Continuing strong cost control enabled BT to meet its annual guidance for the third year running Underlying cash flow growth continues to be compromised by the impact of LLU and IP on BT Wholesale, with fibre deployment providing only limited defence BT is proving adept at survival in a hostile environment, but further gains will continue to be modest and hard won |
Fixed line, Telecoms |
May 2012 Access this report
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UK fixed telecoms market: broadband and telephony trends to Q1 2012
In this report we show our analysis of trends in UK broadband and telephony to March 2012, based on the published results of the major service providers.
Highlights for the March quarter include broadband subscriptions exceeding 21 million, a sudden uptick in broadband market net additions and local loop unbundling accounting for a record 40% of broadband subscriptions. The proportion of unbundled lines that are fully unbundled exceeded two thirds for the first time. |
Fixed line, Telecoms |
June 2012 Access this report
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Live FAPL rights reach dizzy new heights
Unforeseen record inflation in live televised Premier League rights for the three-year contract due to commence in August 2012 marked the entry of a major competitor to Sky in the market for the most premium of premium content. BT will need to rely on a co-operative deal with Sky and probably also VMed to meet its financial guidance targets, but its entry into premium content aggregation also raises the competitive stakes. |
Media, TV |
June 2012 Access this report
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YouView: better late than never
YouView, the hybrid DTT/IPTV service backed by the public service broadcasters, is here, but with an initial retail box price of £300 it will be heavily dependent on the subsidies offered by ISP distributors BT and TalkTalk The TV market has evolved since YouView’s conception in 2008, with many other internet-enabled options now available; its managed and integrated approach gives it some advantages but doesn’t make it a ‘must have’ We expect YouView to mainly appeal to Freeview and BT Vision upgraders and project take-up between 1-3 million TV homes by 2015, though if the product improve |
Media, TV, Internet, Technology |
July 2012 Access this report
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The CAT devastates Ofcom WMO remedy
Though likely to be appealed, the CAT’s dismissal of the Ofcom WMO remedy seems certain to cut off any further re-regulation of pay-TV in the next two years
The CAT decision hands Sky pricing power in the wholesale of its premium sports content, while forcing other retailers to switch their focus on to attempts to enter into commercial supply agreements with Sky
Financially Sky has potentially most to gain and VMed most to lose from the CAT decision, while BT’s strategy to expand its content offer is highly challenged |
Media, TV |
August 2012 Access this report
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UK broadband, telephony and pay-TV trends Q2 2012
In this report we show our analysis of the performance, key trends, competitive dynamics and factors impacting the UK broadband, telephony and pay-TV markets
The first part of the report focusses on market level performance and KPIs such as volume and revenue growth, net adds, pricing and ARPU, and market shares as well as our analysis of key developments in high speed broadband and pay-TV offerings
The second covers the individual results of the four largest ISPs (BT, Virgin Media, BSkyB and TalkTalk Group) in the context of the wider market developments |
Media, TV, Fixed line, Telecoms |
August 2012 Access this report
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BT's reassuring price rise
BT has announced consumer price rises of around 6% to take effect from 5 January 2013; Virgin Media had raised its prices in April 2012 by around 5%, and we expect the LLU operators to largely follow, at least for line rental
While this was largely expected, given a (self-imposed) price freeze that expires on this date, continued price rationality in the UK broadband and telephony market is reassuring
The timings of the price rises should allow both BT and TTG improve their revenue growth in Q1 2013 after a weak Q4 2012 |
Fixed line, Telecoms |
August 2012 Access this report
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First BT PL, now BT top drawer rugby
BT’s acquisition of Premiership Rugby rights underlines its intentions to create a solid premium sports channel with expected launch in summer 2013
BT’s entry into the sports arena is part of a wider TV platform/content strategy that embraces the launch of a much enlarged basic channel offer, integration with YouView and fibre roll-out
Although expected to post significant losses on its sports channels over the next three years, BT’s commitment appears long term |
Media, TV, Fixed line, Internet, Telecoms |
September 2012 Access this report
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TV, non-linear and disruption
The linear TV broadcast industry has kept its oligopolistic structure remarkably intact over the last 50 years against a background of much technological innovation and re-regulation, but now faces a new wave of innovation that promises growth of non-linear at the expense of linear True disruption can only occur by solving the device challenge of developing on a mass scale new, compelling and innovative ways to access content, but so far non-linear has achieved a very small share of total viewing while linear viewing levels are as high as ever Although non-linear viewing may become substa |
Media, TV, Internet, Technology |
October 2012 Access this report
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BT Q2 2012/13 results: Revenue slows, cost cutting compensates
BT Group revenue growth disappointed at the reported level, dropping from -6% to -9%, but adjusting for a series of one-offs underlying growth only dropped from -3.2% to -3.6%, easily made up for by another quarter of strong cost reductions Broadband net adds were again a little weak, with weather-related repairs slowing new line installations, but BT’s share held up well, at least against its fellow DSL operators Fibre-based connections continued to grow and BT further accelerated its build-out plans, with this (and not TV) holding the key to stabilising ARPU and increasing wholesale rev |
Media, TV, Fixed line, Telecoms |
November 2012 Access this report
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