Satellite overtakes cable TV in Mexico

DISTRITO FEDERAL, Mexico — At the end of the fourth quarter of 2011, Mexico’s telecommunications sector had registered growth of 11.3% year-on-year according to the country’s Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones (COFETEL). Satellite television was once again the most dynamic segment of the sector.

According to Mexico’s Telecommunications Sector Production Index (Índice de Producción del Sector Telecomunicaciones – ITEL), an indicator published by COFETEL that measures the behaviour of the principal services offered by the industry, in the fourth quarter, the satellite TV (DTH) segment had registered subscriber growth of 44% compared to the same period in 2010. At the end of December there were 5.645 million DTH users, overtaking for the first time cable TV which grew only 2.9% over the year to finish with 5.591 million subscribers.

MMDS registered a decrease of 32.4% in the fourth quarter to end with 215.7 thousand subscribers.

Mexico pay TV subscribers:

        Cable TV     MMDS  Satellite       TOTAL
       ---------  -------  ---------  ----------
1Q09   4,908,830  673,871  1,577,525   7,160,226
2Q09   4,965,178  618,832  1,773,108   7,357,118
3Q09   5,008,528  537,220  2,091,274   7,637,022
4Q09   5,138,995  471,202  2,439,798   8,049,995
1Q10   5,190,645  423,951  2,980,693   8,595,289
2Q10   5,309,271  381,419  3,518,380   9,209,070
3Q10   5,355,356  345,741  4,008,173   9,709,270
4Q10   5,388,920  316,788  4,367,658  10,073,366
1Q11   5,435,043  293,927  4,747,664  10,476,634
2Q11   5,495,704  268,976  5,090,170  10,854,850
3Q11   5,565,059  243,667  5,416,060  11,224,786
4Q11   5,591,201  215,775  5,645,395  11,452,371