SkyCable expects subscriber base to breach 1 M this year

MANILA, Philippines - Sky Cable Corp. expects its total subscriber base to breach the one million mark this year as it rolls out its offerings in more areas.

“We’ll exceed the one million mark this year,” SkyCable chief operating officer Antonio Ventosa told reporters yesterday.

Last year, the company had a total base of around 800,000 subscribers.

Of the total subscribers, Ventosa said the bulk is accounted for by those who avail of cable TV.

As of the first-half, the company had 169,000 broadband subscribers.

The growth in subscribers is expected to be supported by the rollout of services particularly the broadband offering in more areas.

Apart from Metro Manila, the broadband service is now available in Cavite and Laguna, as well as key cities such as Cebu, Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo, Dumaguete and Baguio.

“Practically (in) all those markets, we still have room to grow in terms of rollout…Our network was primarily built on cable so, as a company, our expansion plans are to be able to offer broadband anywhere we can offer cable,” Ventosa said.

Sky also expects its new line of all-in-one subscription plans integrating cable TV, internet, and video-on-demand services to help support the growth of its subscriber base.

The new postpaid subscription plans called One Sky which provides access to high-speed Skybroadband connection, premium high-definition (HD) cable TV viewing via Skycable, reliable mobile internet via Skymobi and to video-on-demand service Sky On Demand, would be available within the month.

“Over the past six months, our broadband business has been very robust, growing by at least 40 percent versus last year. We also realized that most of our broadband subscribers also purchased cable at the same time indicating the interest for both connectivity and entertainment in one plan,” Claudia Suarez, Sky’s head for consumer products business said.