In its Estadisticas del Sector Telecomunicaciones Costa Rica 2018 (2018 Telecommunications Statistics Report), Costa Rica’s Supertintendencia de Telecommunicaciones (Sutel) reports 883,883 pay TV subscribers in the country. Clients in the market has been rising in the last five years and, related to 2017, it added 51,976 subscribers.
The previous mentioned figure went up to 797,230 in 2015; to record 821,575 in 2016 and 831,907 in 2017, to finally arrive at 883,883 in 2018, the latest figure available.
The regulator also reported that 67% of subscriptions recorded in 2018 belongs to cable TV, 29% to DTH, and the remaining 4% to IPTV. Related to 2017, cable TV fell by 1%, while IPTV increased itself at the same percentage, and DTH did not make any change and recorded the same 29%.
Sutel also informed that, in December 2018, 96.8% homes had some TV service available. During the last 365 day-period, pay TV had a 1.6% increase in Costa Rican homes (from 69% in 2017 to 70.6% in 2018), while homes with FTA TV accesses decreased from 28.5% in 2017 to 26.2% last year (what means a 2.3% drop).
2018 pay TV revenues totaled USD 271.4 million, which means a 4% more than 2017, when the figure was USD 259.8 million. In addition, quarterly income average in Q4 2018 was USD 69 million. In Q1 2018, quarterly income average was US$67.2, while in Q2 it went up to US$67.7 million and US$67.3 million in Q3. Pay TV income percentage distribution established that 69% belonged to cable TV, 27% to DTH and 4% to IPTV.
Pay TV ARPU recorded in Costa Rica in 2018 totaled US$25.59. The figure is lower than the US$26.03 recorded in 2017, while in 2016 it totaled US$24.94. In 2015 it was US$24.66, and, in 2014, US$24.77.
