US digital music sales continue to perform well, despite press reports to the contrary, with the average weekly volume of tracks sold up 75% in 2006, supported by steady sales of iPods
TF1, France’s leading free-to-air (FTA) terrestrial broadcaster, has repositioned its channel assets in order to better exploit rapid growth of digital TV, now taken by 44% of households
Aggregate mobile service revenue growth remains reasonably strong, at 4% for the latest quarter for the five largest European countries
Under regulatory pressure, France Télécom introduced in July 2006 a wholesale ‘naked’ DSL offer, under which broadband alone is supplied to the customer, as the lower frequency portion of the line used for PSTN telephony is deactivated
At the end of Q3 2006, the UK had 12.4 million broadband connections and we estimate 45% household broadband penetration. Over the past 12 months, 3.4 million new broadband connections have been sold, generating overall market growth of 38% year-on-year. Quarterly net additions were 719,000, 83,500 higher than the previous quarter, but 178,000 lower than the same quarter last year. We believe that broadband adoption has now peaked, partly due to provisioning issues, and we envisage a gradual decline in the new connection rate over the next 18 months
H3G’s X-Series is not quite as innovative as it was presented to be, given that T-Mobile’s Web ‘n’ Walk is very similar in concept (flat rate data tariffs, 3rd party Internet services) and has been available since June 2005
Today ITV officially rejected NTL's bid, currently worth around 120 pence/share with, among others, the consequence that Sir Peter Burt will have to continue to show up for meetings at ITV for the foreseeable future
Group revenue growth continues to be positive but vulnerable; EBITDA growth continues apace but cash flow growth has again been hit by 21CN capex
Vodafone’s revenue growth has improved, with core underlying growth rising both relative to the previous quarter and relative to its competitors
Although NTL could use ITV programming to improve its competitiveness, it is difficult to see how yet another acquisition could be justified, given the managerial and financial burden that would result. Nevertheless, we believe that NTL will move heaven and earth to acquire ITV and is deeply serious in its intentions