The Russian DTH platform operator Orion saw its subscriber base grow by 4% and ARPU by 5% in 2017.
In a summary of its activities last year, the company says that the number of households receiving its services stood at 3,075,400 as of the end of December. It gained the most new subscribers in the Chelyabinsk (+12%) region of the country during 2017. Meanwhile ARPU stood at R104 (€1.5) and R290 for its budget and mid-price packages, up 1% and 5% respectively on a year earlier.
Orion says it added around 20 channels to its Telecard offer in 2017. Furthermore, 30 regional channels opted for Orion to distribute their services.
Orion’s revenues in 2017 amounted to R3.35 billion, which was comparable to those a year earlier. The company used 245.5 MHz of satellite capacity, while its play-out services were used by around 50 TV channels, including the largest international broadcasters, in Russia and the CIS.
Orion also strengthened its position in the online environment. The number of downloads of the mobile app Telecard Online doubled and amounted to over 17,000, and the total number to date (iOS and Android) exceeded 45,000.
In addition, Orion also launched a new mobile service named Telegid in 2017. Intended for a wide audience and not just Telecard subscribers, the online application had already been downloaded 112,578 times as of the end of the year.
Commenting on the 2017 results, Kirill Makhnovsky, Orion’s general director, said: “The company’s business results fully reflect the trends in the development of the pay-TV market. The most interesting of them today are formed beyond the framework of organic growth. Like the majority of participants oriented to long-term development strategy, we are interested in expanding our presence in various broadcasting environments and in most territories. On these tasks, Orion will concentrate its efforts in 2018 on making maximum use of the resources of its satellite media platform. We will focus on reaching out to new audiences and launching new services for existing customers”.