Russia’s pay-TV market grew by its lowest rate in two years in the second quarter.
According to research by IAA TelecomDaily, the number of subscribers in three months to June 30 increased by only 80,000 to a total of 43,605,000. In comparison, nearly twice that many (150,000) were added in the first quarter.
Pay-TV penetration in Q2 remained at just over 78%, while ARPU stood at R180 (€2.55) a month.
During the second quarter, the market leader Tricolor added only 4,000 new customers, while MTS gained 66,000, mainly due to the growth of its satellite service.
Rostelecom, which has for several years been the main driver of pay-TV growth, usually accounting for up to 50% of new connections, finished the second quarter with the same number of subscribers, as did ER Telecom, while Orion saw a slight reduction in its total.
Significantly, the IPTV sector experienced the most stagnation, while DTH grew.
Tricolor had 12,232,000 susbcribers at the end of Q2, up from 12,228,000 three months earlier. It was followed by Rostelecom with 10,280,000 (10,280,000), ER Telecom with 3,740,000 (3,740,000), MTS 3,700,000 (3,634,000) and Orion 3,092,400 (3,092,500).
Tricolor claimed a 28% share of the pay-TV market, folowed by Rostelecom (24%), ER Telecom (9%), MTS (8%), Orion (7%) and others (24%).