iesy Repository GmbH - Irish Stock Exchange

Subscribers
ish classifies its customers based on its four main business activities. The following table sets forth ish’s subscriber
numbers for its main business activities:
119
As of December 31, As of March 31,
2003 2004 2004 2005
Subscriber information (’000s, except percentages and ARPUs)
Homes passed (1) 6,544 6,544 6,544 6,544
Total basic cable subscribers (2) 4,048 4,096 4,128 4,021
% penetration 62% 63% 63% 61%
Residential (3) 1,262 1,244 1,260 1,222
Business (4) 1,488 1,410 1,447 1,403
Strategic accounts (2)(5) 1,298 1,442 1,422 1,396
Premium cable television subscribers 18 43 26 60
High speed Internet 10 16 10 19
Telephony 3 5 3 7
Total RGUs 4,079 4,160 4,167 4,107
(1) ish calculates homes passed based on ish’s estimate of the number of potential subscribers who are passed by its
network and to whom ish can offer its cable television services.
(2) Does not include 135,000 Tele Columbus subscribers as of December 31, 2003, which were added to ish’s subscriber
number in 2004, when its contract with Tele Columbus was renegotiated.
(3) Residential subscribers typically represent accounts with single dwelling units.
(4) Business customers typically represent accounts with multiple-dwelling units and encompass mainly landlords, small
and medium housing associations and local Level 4 operators.
(5) Strategic accounts encompass professional and other large Level 4 operators and large housing associations and
represent accounts outside of ish’s standard terms and conditions. ish includes signal delivery services provided to ish
KS in this category.
The number of ish’s total basic cable subscribers has decreased from 4.128 million subscribers as of March 31, 2004 to
4.021 million subscribers as of March 31, 2005, primarily due to disconnections by key account customers like ewt, Bosch
and Marienfeld Multimedia, as well as a seasonal high volume of disconnections from residential customers at the end of
2004.
The number of ish’s residential and business subscribers decreased by 3.0% and 4.8%, respectively, from March 31,
2004 to March 31, 2005 and by 1.4% and 5.2%, respectively, from December 31, 2003 to December 31, 2004. ish believes
that the principal causes of these declines in its number of residential subscribers and business customers is competition
against satellite and, in the case of business subscribers, migration to strategic accounts contracts. For example, at the end of
2004 ewt and Marienfeld Multimedia disconnected approximately 30,000 subscribers, and at the end of 2003, BN
disconnected approximately 32,000 subscribers, in total from ish’s network to a satellite network (when their previous
agreements with them expired). ARPUs for large Level 4 operators tend to be comparatively low so the revenues impact of
these subscriber losses is not as significant as it would be for residential customers. See “—Basic Cable Television Sales”
and “—ARPU.”
The total number of ish’s basic cable subscribers has declined from 4.096 million subscribers as of December 31, 2004
to 4.021 million subscribers as of March 31, 2005. This primarily reflects disconnections by Level 4 customers related to
moves to satellite and an adjustment of ish’s subscribers due to an error which resulted in the double counting of
approximately 17,000 customers under ish’s agreement with Tele Columbus. The number of ish’s total basic cable
subscribers has increased from 4.048 million subscribers as of December 31, 2003 to 4.096 million subscribers as of
December 31, 2004, primarily due to a change in the way subscribers are recorded in one of ish’s strategic accounts contracts
following a change in the method of counting subscribers under the contract.
In addition, due to the price increase for approximately 366,000 subscribers that has been in effect since April 2005, ish
expects some additional churn within the residential subscriber group in the second quarter of 2005.
In the longer term, ish believes that the continued expansion of its premium cable television, high speed Internet and
telephony products and services will help to maintain subscriber levels. However, competition and other factors are likely to
lead to certain decreases in subscriber levels. In addition, conditions may change due to, among other things, further industry
consolidation and new technologies for signal deliveries to customers and this may encourage further disconnections in the