SES sees soaraway growth in Ethiopia

Source: SES

Satellite operator SES’s Ethiosat platform at the 57° East orbital position now delivers content to 17 million TV households in Ethiopia, an increase of seven million compared to 2022, with its reach penetration growing to 95%, according to the company.

In an update on its presence in the country, SES said that the Ethiopian TV market has seen the number of TV households increase by 400% since 2017 to 18.2 million homes now receiving TV content.

The penetration of HD homes in the market has also increased from 48% to 62% since 2021, with Ethiosat’s number of HD TV channels growing from 15% to 62%.

Ethiosat is a dedicated free-to-air TV platform, hosted on SES’s NSS-12 satellite. Launched in October 2019, the platform came about through an agreement between the Ethiopian Media Authority, Ethiopian Space Science, Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), Association of Ethiopian Broadcasters (AEB) and SES to consolidate all Ethiopian TV channels and broadcast them from one orbital position.

“We are immensely proud to be part of the growth of the Ethiopian TV market through the Ethiosat platform. The increase of TV households in the country and the penetration of the platform confirms the importance of Ethiosat as an established source audiences rely on to watch their favourite local programming in the best quality possible,” said Norbert Hölzle, global head of media at SES.