Telefónica sees convergence drive pay TV uptake

Telefónica saw its global pay TV base grow by 5% year-on-year to reach 8.6 million at the end of the first quarter, with 137,000 net additions in Q1 actually exceeding the Q4 2017 figure of 92,000.

Growth in subscriptions was driven by IPTV, which grew by 18%.

The quarter saw the launch of Telefónica’s Movistar Series channel, which will take its 12 original TV series to over 13 countrie sthis year via the Movistar TV and Movistar Play OTT platforms.

Global video revenues remained largely unchanged, up 1% to €722 million for the first quarter.

In Spain, Telefónica’s Movistar offering added 500,000 TV customers year-on-year, including 80,000 in Q1 – about the same number as in Q4 last year – to take its total to 3.9 million. The growth was driven primarily by the success of the operator’s convergent offering, Movistar Fusión, which added 34,000 customers in the first quarter and accounted for 88% of TV subscriptions, up six percentage points year-on-year, as well as 86% of broadband subscriptions and 81% of mobile contracts.

Telefónica Brasil saw its IPTV base increase by 53% year-on-year, including 49,000 additions in Q1, to 400,000. However, the unit’s TV revenues declined by 17.4% to €118 million.

Fixed line pay TV numbers in the southern part of Spanish-speaking Latin America – comprising Argentina, Chile and Peru – grew by 7%, including 19,000 Q1 additions, to 1.8 million. In the northern region – Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico and central America – pay TV numbers grew by 20,000 in the first quarter, taking the total to just over a million.