(Brussels, 3 October)- European Commissioner Neelie Kroes’ call for a greater focus on private sector investments in high speed broadband are met today with enthusiasm by the European cable industry which is already making good on key components of the Europe’s Digital Agenda.

“Today is a reminder that this Commissioner is a fan of competition. And we are agents of the Digital Agenda here to compete with European telecom incumbents. Europe’s consumers are right to demand the best service available and the Commissioner is right to call for greater investments which, in the end, benefit the wider economy for Europe,” says Cable Europe President, Manuel Kohnstamm. “Commissioner Kroes has also highlighted cable’s role in achieving her Digital Agenda. Rolling out fast fibre-rich broadband service is also at the top of our agenda.”

The figures back up the Commissioner’s narrative about the cable industry where Commissioner Kroes commented in the latest edition of Cable News, “Cable has an important role to play in at least two respects. First, it can widely offer 100 Mbps at attractive prices incurring lower costs, and as a result also lower risk which provides a clear competitive edge. Second, by competing head-on, in particular - but not only - with incumbent operators, cable increases the sense of urgency for other players to deploy other next-generation network infrastructure, such as fibre. narrative of investment-led growth.”

Total European Union cable revenue in 2010, including television, telephony and Internet, amounted to €18.7 billion, up 7.9 percent from €17.3 billion in the previous year. “Cable is a capital-intensive business but these number prove unequivocally that our investment were made in the right places at the right time, says, Cable Europe Managing Director, Caroline Van Weede. “Across European we are seeing healthy growth in our key metrics, with cable operators increasingly coming to be as value added service providers rather than utilities, as they may have done in the past.”

*Commissioner Kroes’ remarks from above are taken from an exclusive interview in Cable News Edition No.6 now available at www.cable-europe.eu

For more information, please contact:

Gregg Svingen

Director of Communications

M: +32 476 490 603

E: gregg.svingen@cable-europe.eu

About Cable Europe

Cable Europe is a trade association that groups all leading broadband cable TV operators and their national associations throughout Europe. The aim of Cable Europe is to promote and defend the industry’s policies and business interests at European and international levels, and to foster cooperation among its members. The European cable TV industry services more than 94 million broadband, TV and telephony subscriptions throughout the EU 27 (around 70 million households).

www.cable-europe.eu