Manitoba Telecom Sees Good Growth

Manitoba Telecom reported that the number of IPTV subscribers that it serves grew to 66,093 at the end of 2006 from 51,561 at the end of 2005, which is 28 percent growth over the year. Its IPTV revenue grew to $32.2 million Canadian ($27.7 million U.S.) in 2006 from $22.9 million Canadian ( $19.7 million U.S.). Its IPTV ARPU was flat at $46 ($40 U.S.) Canadian in 2006 and $45 Canadian ($39 U.S.) in 2005.

Manitoba Telecom offers this service in Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, using VDSL systems from Motorola. Its IPTV coverage in Winnipeg grew to 96.3 percent in 2006 to 91.1 percent in 2005. Its market penetration grew to 26.6 percent in 2006 compared to 21.7 percent in 2005.

Manitoba Telecom continues solid growth with its IPTV service. It does demonstrate that a telco VDSL IPTV service can achieve 25 percent penetration, which is good news for AT&T. Of course, Manitoba introduced this service in 2003 before Shaw, its cable competitor, introduced VoIP and a triple play offering. AT&T is facing much stiffer competition introducing IPTV this year.