At the end of Q1, Germany placed fourth worldwide for total broadband subscribers, behind the U.S., China and Japan.
Competition continues to grow in the German broadband market. Deutsche Telekom, the incumbent, now has local loop access agreements with more than 100 of its competitors, which currently account for more than 50 percent of the high-speed DSL lines. DSL remains the dominant access technology.
Germany is the largest cable market in Europe, with about one-third of European cable subs residing in the country. Cable operators are trying to counter competition from satellite services and digital video broadcasting (DVB) by introducing new offers and services such as subscription packages, VOD and triple-play services (cable, DSL and mobile). There were only about 350,000 triple-play subs at the beginning of 2007, but dynamic growth is expected within the next few years, particularly with telcos such as Deutsche Telekom entering the market and with the transmission of HD IPTV.
And the operators’ rollout of digital services continues – more than one-third of TV viewers in Germany are now digitally enabled. Germany’s analog switch-off is scheduled for 2010.
Mobile TV, iTV, quad-play and IPTV look to be promising markets. These and other advanced services are about a year away.
What follows are some brief statistics and a peek at Germany’s major players.
Germany broadband stats
- Population: 82.4 million*
- 84.3 million mobile subs*** (On average, there is at least one mobile phone for every person in Germany.)
- 54.5 million fixed telephony lines in service***
- 42 million Internet users***
- 6.8 million cable TV subs***
- 55 percent receive service via a cable signal
- 40 percent receive service via satellite
- 16.1 million broadband subs**
Deutsche Telekom
- Headquarters: Bonn
- Incumbent telecom operator
- Offers wireless communications, Internet, fixed network, IT, telecom and IPTV solutions; offers triple-play services.
- 10.3 million broadband lines in service***
- 33.2 million narrowband lines in service***
- 31.4 million mobile subs***
- 25,000 IPTV (T-Home) subs*** (1.5 million expected by 2010.)
- Deploying nationwide VDSL to 50 major cities.
- T-Com is the company’s broadband/fixed network unit; T-Mobile is the mobile unit.
EWT
- Headquarters: Augsburg
- Provides Internet, telephony, and basic and digital cable TV services.
- 2 million total subs
- 1.6 million digitally-enabled subs
- 380,000 Internet subs
- 300,000 telephony subs
Kabel Baden-Württemberg
- Headquarters: Heidelberg
- Offers Internet, telephony, radio and digital cable TV services; offers triple-play services.
- 2.3 million total subs
Kabel Deutschland (KDG)
- Headquarters: Unterfoehring
- Largest cable operator
- Provides digital cable TV, Internet and telephony services; beginning the rollout of triple-play services this fall.
- 9.3 million digital cable TV subs*
- 208,400 Internet subs*
- 178,000 telephony subs*
SES
- Headquarters: Betzdorf, Luxembourg
- Largest satellite operator
- Offers Internet and satellite TV and radio services.
- 16.8 million subs***
Telefónica
- Headquarters: Madrid
- Provides Internet, data and mobile services.
- 11.6 million mobile subs*
- 34,000 Internet and data subs*
Unitymedia
- Headquarters: Cologne
- Second-largest cable operator, behind Kabel Deutschland.
- Offers Internet, telephony, radio and digital cable TV services; bundles Internet and phone offerings; offers triple-play services.
- 4.9 million basic cable TV subs*
- 491,600 digital cable TV subs*
- 150,700 Internet subs*
- 78,900 telephony subs*
* As of June 30 | ** As of March 31 | *** As of Dec. 31, 2006