Stock markets may be rebounding, but the global recession had effects on broadband that are still being evaluated. Among those effects is the dampening of growth among Western Europe’s major broadband providers through the first half of 2009.
According to a report from SNL Kagan, mounting recessionary and competitive pressures contributed to a significant drop in subscriber net additions during the first half of 2009.
The top-10 fixed broadband providers only saw an average of less than 1.4 million net additions per quarter, compared with 1.9 million per quarter during 2007 and 2008.
Germany’s United Internet and Vodafone were the only operators in the top 10 to accelerate their rate of subscriber additions, and that was due to acquisitions (of Freenet AG and Arcor, respectively).
“While the rest of the region is still trying to stabilize following the global financial crisis, stronger macroeconomic fundamentals and consumer confidence have allowed German and French telcos to achieve the fastest 10-quarter subscriber growth rates, as well as maintain some of the highest growth rates in the first half of 2009,” said SNL Kagan senior analyst Ben Reneker.