Orange wants an end to telecommunication packages in which customers are locked in and pay for services they do not use, says the service provider, which is positioning itself as a challenger on the Belgian market.
Orange says it plans to favour unbundling, which is the idea behind its Love Duo product, launched last week and which no longer includes digital television. Orange also hopes to deploy Internet-only services soon.
Love Duo targets cord cutters, people who no longer watch digital TV directly, but prefer online streaming via online services such as Netflix, Auvio, Amazon Prime, YouTube or RTL Play. Other services targeting this, often young, category of consumers have been launched by Proximus (Epic combo) and Telenet (Yugo).
Close to one-third of the telecoms market, made up of 5 million households in Belgium, could ultimately be interested in such services, according to Orange CEO Michaël Trabbia. There is thus considerable potential for such a market segment that keeps on growing.
The offer launched last week is, moreover, an intermediate step towards an Internet-only product, which is not yet profitable because of the high wholesale prices for access to Telenet and Voo (Nethys) cable infrastructure, which Orange rents. However, regulations currently under preparation could have a favourable influence on the situation. A decision is expected by the end of the year and, if it allows the operator to offer a profitable Internet-only service, it will be launched as quickly as possible, said Trabbia.
The Brussels Times
