EE hopes TV will spur broadband sign up growth
The chief executive of Britain’s biggest mobile operator is hoping TV will unlock a new growth story for EE.
Yesterday, the telecoms giant unveiled a TV offering in a move that would send a warning shot across the bows of rivals BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media which have fought between themselves over who has the remote control.
EE TV will be free for EE mobile customers who sign up to a home broadband and landline plan as it looks to use TV to continue growing its broadband business, which now accounts for four per cent of its revenues.
“We looked at our broadband business and it was going really well. We have a fantastic product seeing good growth every quarter, and now we feel this the time is right to start considering TV,” chief executive Olaf Swantee told City PM “Our mobile business is much more focused on retention and reducing churn, but in this market [broadband], I think we have a huge acquisition opportunity. We’re now the fastest growing UK broadband business according to our second-quarter results.”
EE TV will target households which currently do not pay for TV and those that have a full subscription service, but which could be tempted to scale back.
The service offers Freeview TV and on-demand services such as BBC iPlayer. Viewers will also be able to watch four different live or recorded programmes on four separate devices within the same house simultaneously.