Dave Wittwer, president of TDS Telecom (NYSE: TDS), reiterated the company's dedication to bring its IPTV service to more communities this year and throughout 2013 during the recent TelcoTV Conference in Las Vegas.
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Wittwer (Image source: TDS Telecom) |
Since 2008, the telco has been delivering IPTV service in Farragut and Mt. Juliet, Tenn. It also offers the service in St. Mary's, Ga.
Wittwer said the offering is seeing "rapid expansion," adding that the company is currently turning up the service in 10 communities in four states: Tennessee, Georgia, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
What's interesting about Wittwer's speech is that TDS previously set a goal to bring IPTV service to 19 markets back in January. But the good news is that the take rates for IPTV continue to be 30 percent in the two communities where it provides service.
Similar to AT&T (NYSE: T), TDS also continues to see a large percentage, 95 percent, purchase a triple play of voice, broadband and IPTV services where it is available.
While TDS also delivers Dish Network satellite services where it currently does not sell IPTV, Wittwer said that "broadband penetration is higher where we have terrestrial TV."
TDS, which will report its Q3 earnings on Nov. 5, saw the bundling trend on display in Q2 2012. During the second quarter, the telco reported that residential triple play penetration increased to 30 percent, up from 27 percent in Q1 2012.
The combination of triple play penetration and an increase in its growing managed services helped drive up TDS' wireline revenues to $208.5 million, up from $198.9 million in Q1 2012. It's likely that it will see a similar trend in Q3, especially as the telco expands its triple play service set with IPTV into more areas.
For more:
- Telecompetitor has this article
Special report: Wireline telecom earnings in the third quarter
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