Satellite decline sees Telefónica TV numbers drop

Telefónica had 10.34 million pay TV customers at the end of June, down 4.4% year-on-year. In its domestic Spanish market the telco saw TV numbers decline by 60,000 in Q2, which it said was pushed lower by a 90,000 drop in single-play satellite TV customers.

Telefónica España had 3.417 million pay TV customers at the end of June, down 4.8% year-on-year.

Fixed broadband numbers in Spain grew by 24,000 over the same period, with mobile contract subs growing by 43,000.

The Spanish operator also added 83,000 fibre customers over the quarter, including 74,000 retail customers.

Convergent customers remained more or less flat over the period, down 1% with the loss of 7,000 customers.

In Spain, Telefónica is continuing to evolve its TV offering to adjust to changing market demands, with the recent launch of an OTT version of its revamped Movistar Plus+ offering. This was namechecked by COO Ángel Vilá during the Q2 analyst call.

Vilá highlighted the company’s “update of our convergent portfolio adding more value and the launch of a new OTT proposal, another step to further boost commercial activity and top line growth.”

Vilá also pointed out that Telefónica generally lost video subscribers at the end of the football season, and that these numbers picked up again with the start of the new season.

The telco’s Brazilian unit also struggled with TV, with its pay TV total declining by 15.7% year-on-year to 871,000.

In Spanish-speaking Latin America, Telefónica’s local operations saw their aggregate pay TV total decline by 1.9% to 2.9 million, with IPTV gains amounting to 39.9% (1.561 million subscribers) largely offsetting declines in satellite customers.