Telefónica sees big drop in TV numbers

Telecom giant Telefónica has posted its Q1 figures, including grim news on its pay TV numbers, with a sharp decline in its Brazilian base following the closure of its satellite offering and a further decline in its domestic Spanish base.

Telefónica España’s pay TV base declined by 4.7% year-on-year to the end of the first quarter, leaving the operator with 3.477 million TV customers in the domestic market.

The domestic operation’s broadband base was more or less flat, rising by 0.5% to end with 5.876 million customers, but its FTTH base rose by 5.1% to 5.122 million. Total RGUs including mobile were up 0.4% to 40.578 million.

Telefónica Brasil’s TV base however declined by a whopping 17.2% over the same period, ending Q1 with 884,000 TV customers. The sharp decline was due to the shutdown of the operator’s Vivo TV satellite offering in December last year. DTH users were invited to migrate to Telefónica’s IPTV service or its streaming offering, Vivo Play, which was, however, only open to customers that took another Telefónica service.

The Brazilian operation’s IPTV base also declined however, losing 1.7% year-on-year, and now accounts for the entirety of the reported TV base for Telefónica España in the country, which would suggest that few satellite customers have migrated to the IPTV offering.

Telefónica Hispam, Telefónica’s operations in Spanish-speaking Latin America, recorded a 1.1% decline in its TV base to 2.909 million. However, its IPTV base grew by 46.3% to end with 1.48 million subs.