Telefónica Europe fails to match Lat-Am pay TV growth

Telefónica’s impressive pay TV growth continued in Latin America during the first quarter of 2012, with yearly increases also seen in Spain and the other European markets in which it operates.

In Latin America, the Spanish telco increased its pay TV subs base by 23% year-on-year to a total of 2.3 million. Telefónica said 75% of broadband subscribers in the region take a double- or triple-play package.

In its home market of Spain, the company ended March with 813,000 pay TV subs, which was up 3% on the same period in 2011, but the telco lost 20,000 subs in the quarter due to the end of a promotional period. Pay TV numbers were up 7% to 138,000 in the Czech Republic. In Germany, pay TV subs totalled 78,000, down slightly on 79,000 a year earlier.