Are incumbent providers affected the most by broadband saturation?
Michael Philpott: No, this isn’t just an issue for incumbents. Many competitive broadband service providers have done well out of broadband, but their whole business is based on basic voice and basic broadband, so they face the same issue. They may be less equipped to get into multimedia, so they’re facing a decision of whether to reinvent the business or close up shop. Are there any companies that you think are really getting the IPTV/ARPU equation right? Michael Philpott: There are best-of-breed examples — Iliad in France, for one. Its brand name is Free, and it’s a competitive national player. From the start, it was set up as a broadband multimedia company, and it has been very, very aggressive around TV. You pay a flat 30 euros a month for voice, broadband and TV. The company doesn’t care whether you take the TV or not; it’s a flat fee. In Europe, most companies charge that just for broadband. The company says 80% of customers take the TV service, and now 25% of the company’s reve
