British Virgin Islands-registered China Cablecom Holdings, Ltd., the cable network operator and acquirer in China, provided an update on forecasted digital subscriber number for the year ended December 31, 2009. The company made a forecast of 190,000 digital subscribers by the end of the year, but as of today it has already surpassed this count by 11%. Now China Cablecom is revising its guidance for the end of the period to 250,000 digital subscribers.
Pu Yue, CEO of China Cablecom, commented on the results saying that, after the company announced the consummation of its debt restructurings and new financing, it received the flexibility to fulfill the remaining payment obligations to Hubei joint venture and make a significant repayment to the note holders. Also, by his words, “assets in Hubei are undergoing an aggressive digital conversion and continue to organically expand a subscriber base at approximately 8 to 10 percent year-over-year.”
Due to the digitilization growth, the company expects the increase of the total revenues by 18 to 20 percent compared to last year.
China Cablecom originally acquired operating rights of the Binzhou Broadcasting network in Shandong Province in September 2007, but this year it has consummated the acquisition of a 55 per cent economic interest in a cable network in Hubei province, with paying subscribers exceeding 1,100,000. Total amount of paying subscribers of 23 operating networks in Hubei is currently 1.16 million, including 210,000 digital subscribers.