Lack of level four weighs heavily on German cable

摘要

The challenges facing Germany's cablers in acquiring level-four access - that elusive length of cable running from a property boundary into the wall socket of the home -continue to dampen the prospects of success for German cable Internet services. In December, cabler Ekabel had to restrict the rollout of its triple play of digital TV, Net and telephony in its Hessen franchise because of higher-than-expected costs relating to the acquisition or buildout of level-four access. And just last week, cable outfit ish - backed by global telecoms firm Callahan Associates - announced it planned to lay off about 25% of its work force, partly because of delays caused by its inability to gain level-four access through Liberty Media's failed bid to purchase Deutsche Telekom's CATV networks. "While Liberty's exit from the German cable market has left Callahan and ish as the No. 1 broadband cable operator in Germany, it has also created a lot of uncertainty in the market," said a Callahan representative. "We had hoped, with Liberty involved, we would at least have been able to work together in obtaining level-four agreements."