National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology of the Republic of Moldova

Statistical data on the evolution of pay TV market (IP and cable) in the nine months of 2015, aggregated by the National Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology (ANRCETI) shows that the situation on this market segments developed differently: the IP TV service market continued to grow, while the cable TV market – to decline. This trend has become more prominent in the most recent four consecutive quarters.

According to data presented to ANRCETI by 78 active pay TV operators, in the timeframe January-September 2015, the number of IP TV subscribers increased by 5,1 thousand (+8%) up to 67,7 thousand, the revenue from this service increased over the same period last year, by 0,4 million lei (+1,9%) and exceeded 40,9 million lei. Meanwhile, the number of cable TV subscribers fell by 11,2 thousand (-5,6%) to 197,5 thousand, whereas the total volume of sales dropped by 10,25 million lei (-12,7%) and totaled 70,7 million lei.

As a result of the recent developments on both market segments, the cumulative number of paid TV subscribers fell by 8,8 thousand (-3.2%), including 2,1 thousand MMDS network subscribers, and made up 265,2 thousand. However, the total sales on this market dropped by 9.8 million lei (-8,1%) and totaled over 111,6 million lei, whereas the average monthly revenue per subscriber (ARPU) decreased by 2,5% and down to 46,2 lei.

The downturn of the cable TV service market happened mainly due to the changing preferences of TV service users. Part of cable TV subscribers migrate to alternative TV content services: via Internet (free or pay), satellite (free or pay) or IP TV (pay), these services being offered in digital format, compared to analog TV service offered by most cable TV operators.

The reason of the different dynamics of sale volumes on the two market segments is the fact that the IP TV market consists exclusively of users of digital programs, while the cable TV market include both digital and analog TV subscribers. The increase of turnover on the IP TV market is mainly determined by the fact that digital TV subscriptions are more expensive than those for cable TV in analog format. However, the users choose digital TV subscriptions for its better image quality, additional functionality, such as language selection for video content, EPG program guide, video on demand, movie library, HD and 3D channels, which are not provided by analog TV operators. Moreover, with the IP TV service, users can avail of attractive offers with two or three services included: Internet access, fixed telephony and HD TV channels.

In the reporting timeframe, the biggest operators on the pay TV market had the following market shares by turnover: Moldtelecom – 29,8%, Sun Communications – 29,4%, TV BOX – 6,5%, AMT – 3,8%. The other 74 providers joint share was estimated at 30,3%.

Other information on the evolution of pay TV market in nine months of 2015 are available on ANRCETI Web page, Section “Statistical Data”.

December 9, 2015