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No more Belgians have ever purchased the maximum number of services from their telecom operator. The latter smiles: customers who purchase more services bring in more money and are more loyal.
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Digital TV, a mobile phone subscription, a fixed telephone line and broadband internet. More and more Belgians are using these four services as one package from their telecom operator. The telecom watchdog BIPT underlined this yesterday in its annual report on how the telecom market is performing. In 2019, the number of households with such a bundle increased by 22 percent to 1.07 million. A third of all Belgians with a bundle opt for four services. That is an increase of 5.3 percentage points year on year.
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The Belgian telecom market does justice to its bundle market status. 57 percent of the connected families have a bundle. Last year, 3.28 million Belgians purchased a bundle, an increase of 2.6 percent compared to a year earlier. In 2016 it was 3.05 million. It is a remarkable observation in an era when watching online TV via Netflix or calling via WhatsApp is on the rise.
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The relationship between the bundles has shifted over the years, BIPT notes. The primal classic among the bundles – digital television, fixed telephony and broadband internet – is to give up ground (-5.8%). The winners are four bundles of services, such as WIGO from Telenet and Tuttimus from Proximus. Alternative three-service bundles, in which mobile telephony replaces a fixed telephone line, are also improving. Bundles tailored to young people, such as Yugo and Epic Combo, with TV without a decoder, are still too small to play with at less than 10,000.
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For the telecom operators, the shift to four services means a profit. Whoever purchases more services logically brings more money into the drawer. Households that purchase four services spend an average of 104 euros on their telecom subscription each month. The difference with the untethered telecom customer, who for instance only purchases fixed or mobile internet, is enormous. The average expenditure there is 28 euros. That figure should come as no surprise. If you want a basic fixed internet offer at Telenet, you pay 28.31 euros.
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A bundle customer is also much more loyal than the untied customer. In 2019, the number of families who became customers of another operator for their regular services fell slightly from approximately 100,000 to 95,000. Households that purchase four services are less likely to switch. With bundles with four services the turnover is barely 2.7 percent, with bundles with three services this is already 9.4 percent.
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The bundle customer can take advantage of the somewhat fueled competition. Orange Belgium scores with its Love offer. BIPT claims that the price breaker saw its market share increase by 2.2 percentage points in 2019, although that has not yet reached the 10 percent mark. The question is how long Orange Belgium can still be a driver. The price breaker did not raise its prices last year, but does not rule it out for next year. The new rules on network rental prices that the company has to pay were less successful than expected.
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