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Over-the-top video no threat to us, FASTWEB says as it anticipates selling more high-speed connections
FASTWEB, the Italian triple-play provider that uses fibre and DSL to reach its subscribers, is unconcerned about the arrival of over-the-top video services that use broadband Internet connections to deliver content direct to consumers. IPTV marketing manager Alessandro Petazzi says his customer base splits clearly into two camps: heavy Internet users who do not buy television from the company, and TV-centric families who spend little time on the Internet. Thus over-the-top provision presents little threat. “We have been offering 10Mbps over FTTH since 2001 so we have always run the risk of being by-passed by Internet based content sites. In the beginning these sites were very poor and now they are getting better, but the key thing is the different customer segments we have. The first customers we gained were heavy Internet users who tend not to take our set-top box anyway. They are younger, don’t spend much time watching TV and have good free-to-air services to choose from when they do. Our set-top box customers tend to be families and they are not really heavy Internet users.”Petazzi suggests FASTWEB is in a win-win situation. “We position ourselves as the fast access speed provider and if there are new reasons to buy a fat pipe then we are going to sell more fat pipes.” Petazzi dismisses the idea that over-the-top video could impact his TV revenues and is confident that, if the overthe-top services become good enough, he can keep control of his set-top box customers by giving them access via the television set. The over-the-top threat, and how PayTV operators can counter it, is examined in detail starting page six. |
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