Pay TV numbers rise in Kenya as DTT FTA boxes decline

Digital-terrestrial pay TV subscriptions are rising significantly in Kenya, while the number of free-to-air channels is declining, according to statistics published by the country’s Communications Authority.

The number of pay TV subscribers in the market rose from 3.534 million to 3.743 million in the quarter to March, according to the government’s research, while the number of free-to-air digital-terrestrial boxes purchased increased by only 0.4% to 725,205 over the same period. The number of free-to-air channels declined from 66 to 60 over the same three months period.

Two pay TV operators – MultiChoice’s GoTV and StarTimes – offer services via the country’s digital-terrestrial platform.

The report said that digital-terrestrial network now reached 75% of the country’s population.

The number of mobile subscriptions in the country increased by 0.5% in the quarter to 39.1 million. However mobile penetration as calculated by the government declined by two points to 86.2%, attributed to a recalculation upwards of the size of the Kenyan population. Prepaid subscriptions rose by 1.1% to 37.9 million, while postaid fell from 1.4 million to 1.1 million.

The number of internet subscriptions fell by 3.6% during the quarter to 25.7 million. However, the number of broadband subscriptions increased by 7.9% to reach 13.7 million, taking broadband penetration to 30.3% of the population.

Fixed network phone subscriptions declined over the same period, down 0.7% to 72,259.