German regional cable operator Kabel BW has announced its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December, reporting a 13% year-on-year rise in revenue to EUR493 million (USD670 million). The company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) totalled EUR245 million in 2009, representing a 29% rise compared to the EUR190 million posted a year earlier. At 31 December 2009 Kabel BW’s total cable customer base stood at 525,000, up 37% year-on-year. The cableco also revealed that from May 2010 the whole of its network will be upgraded to enable broadband download speeds of up to 100Mbps to 7.7 million citizens in the federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg. The company plans to introduce new technologies in 2010, including fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) in newly-built areas, and launch a video on demand (VoD) service in the third quarter of the year. Kabel BW invested around EUR133 million in the upgrade and modernisation of its cable networks in 2009.
In a separate story, Inside-Digital.de reports that a court in Cologne has dismissed an attempt by Kabel BW to stop the country’s mobile frequency auction planned for 12 April. The company claims that using 800MHz frequencies freed up by the switchover from analogue to digital TV for mobile internet services would disrupt end-user devices connected to its cable network. The reports adds that a further five claims against the mobile frequency auction have been filed with the court, while another six claims from companies that had wished to participate in the auction but were refused by the Federal Network Agency (FNA) will be heard on 17 March.