Moldova pay TV subscribers down in first 9 months of 2016

Television Services Provided via IPTV Networks in Growing Demand

The statistical data on the evolution of the pay TV market (cable and IPTV) in the nine months of 2016, aggregated by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI), shows that the IPTV segment continued to grow, while the cable TV segment – to reduce.

The data submitted to ANRCETI by 86 active pay TV service providers show that in the time frame January – September 2016, the number of IPTV subscribers increased by 7 thousand (+10%) and made about 75.8 thousand and the revenues increased, compared to the same time frame of 2015, by 5.5 million lei (+13.5%) to 46.5 million lei. Meanwhile, the number of cable TV subscribers fell by 11.1 thousand (-5.4%) down to 195.3 thousand, while the revenues dropped by 1.1 million lei down to 69.7 million lei. Following this development, the average revenue per user (ARPU) of paid TV service increased by 0.9% up to 48.2 lei.

Following the trend on the two market segments, the cumulative number of pay TV subscribers dropped by 4.2 thousand (-1.5%) and totaled 271.1 thousand. However, the total revenues of the pay TV market grew by 4.4 million lei (+4%) and reached 116.2 mil, while the average revenue per user (ARPU) of operators grew by 2.9% up to 47.6 lei.

The data also show that 72.1% of total subscribers used cable TV services, while the rest 27.9% – IPTV services; 58% of the total subscribers used analog TV services, while 42% – digital.

The market shares on the pay TV market depending on turnover were as follows: JSC “Moldtelecom” – 29.6%, LLC “Sun Communications” – 26.2% and LLC “TV BOX” – 10.2%. The cumulative market share of the other 83 suppliers was 34%.