The Russian pay-TV market has stagnated, adding only 250,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to data produced by TelecomDaily.
As of the end of the year there were 42.13 million pay-TV subscribers in the country, or around 930,000 more than in the same period in 2016. Significantly, this was the first time in several years that the latter figure was below one million.
Pay-TV penetration in Russia stood at 75% at the end of 2017 and ARPU amounted to R170 (€2.45), up from R155 a year earlier thanks to the development of additional services by operators.
The five largest operators, headed by Rostelecom (+480,000), accounted for 90% of new connections in 2017. The DTH platform Tricolor TV was the market leader in terms of subscriber numbers, gaining 140,000.
As of the end of 2017, the top five providers of pay-TV services in Russia were Tricolor TV (12.28 million), Rostelecom (9.78 million), ER Telecom (3.34 million), Orion (3.075 million) and MTS (2.796 million).
Cable was still the most popular method of receiving services, accounting for 43% of subscribers.
It was folowed by satellite (39%) and IPTV (18%), with the latter the fastest growing technology.
Commenting on the 2017 figures, Denis Kuskov, head of the TelecomDaily agency, said: “The pay-TV market in Russia is saturated, that’s why growth rates of operators’ businesses are so small. Operators are trying to enlarge ARPU by additional services. Satellite operators are very active in Russia, but 75% of new contracts in the 2017 year was concluded by fibre-optic companies”.
