Tiscali 2009 Annual Report Download - page 17

Tiscali Group: Annual Report 2009
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Furthermore, mobile broadband is taking on increasingly greater importance, used both through smartphones
and Internet Keys (via UMTS – HDSPA), which are decidedly more costly however and suffer from a lower
quality performance compared with fixed broadband access.
The broadband access market features 5 main operators, aside from Tiscali:
Telecom Italia, Fastweb, Wind Infostrada, Vodafone, Tele-tu, an essentially stable picture compared with
the previous year. Each of these operators offer the market different marketing strategies and sales channel
mixes; the promotional price strategy is of key importance, as is the advertising pressure exerted on
traditional and on-line media.
Within this scenario, in 2009 Tiscali was first and foremost committed to the rationalisation of its cost
structure and the process of financial restructuring but, at the same time, implemented a series of significant
network development projects aimed at increasing the level of national coverage, improving performances
and launching new services. This was targeted at enhancing its position as innovative provider on the
consumer market and, simultaneously, laying the foundations for the development of the business sector.
The LLU network expansion project expects to see the extension of direct access coverage for 200 new
exchanges located throughout the different parts of Italy. As a result of said extension Tiscali will have 686
LLU exchanges, thus achieving direct coverage of roughly 9 million families or telephone users. Tiscali
provides internet access and dual play services in Bitstream mode in the rest of the country.
As part of the repositioning process launched last year, Tiscali has placed particular attention on its presence
in the web and digital media segment.
In a macroeconomic scenario marked by a contraction in consumption and investments, the Italian
advertising market on the whole recorded a considerable decrease in 2009. This occurred despite on-line
advertising recording a slight increase, registering a total volume of EUR 900 million, with a total volume
of the display segment at around EUR 400 million. Despite the constant growth in the on-line advertising
segment and increasingly greater use of digital formats by the big spenders, the TV advertising segment
continues to maintain a stable share of around 50%, although the internet audience has shown continuous
growth with a total volume of roughly 22 million users in Italy. A comparison with other western markets
shows that the growth margins of the digital segment are substantial.
Therefore, repositioning of the Tiscali.it portal took place in 2009 with a greater news orientated focus and
greater presence of video content and UGC, in order to be able to attract a higher portion of on-line advertising
investments and provide a suitable on-line shop window for fixed and mobile telecommunications services.