DTH operators lost 0.97 million subscribers at the end of September 2021: Trai

Mumbai: The number of active subscribers with pay DTH operators decreased from 69.86 million at the end of June to 68.89 million by the end of September, according to the latest Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) data. This is in addition to the subscribers of DTH Free Dish.

The top four DTH players are Tata Sky with 33.34 per cent, followed by Bharti Telemedia at 26.11 per cent, Dish TV India at 22.65 per cent and Sun Direct at 17.91 per cent. Bharti Telemedia and Sun Direct’s share increased whereas Tata Sky and Dish TV India’s share decreased over the previous quarter.

The total number of private satellite TV channels decreased from 915 in the previous quarter to 906 channels for uplinking only, downlinking only and both uplinking and downlinking. The number of pay TV channels increased from 346 to 348 which include 252 SD and 96 HD satellite pay TV channels.

There are 1745 multi-system operators registered with the I&B ministry out of which 12 MSOs and one Hits (headend-in-the-sky) operator have a subscriber base greater than one million.

The number of internet subscribers increased from 833.71 million to 834.29 million out of which 794.88 million were broadband subscribers and 39.41 million were narrowband subscribers. Wired internet subscribers increased from 23.58 million to 24.47 million. Out of total internet subscribers, 96.91 per cent are using mobile devices to access the internet.

The total number of VSAT subscribers increased from 289,392 to 289,557 quarter on quarter. Hughes Communications continues to be the market leader with 45.84 per cent share in VSAT with a subscriber base of 132,727 followed by Nelco at 75,535. Hughes added the maximum number of VSAT subscribers (3003) during the quarter. Bharti Airtel, BSNL and Infotel Satcom have registered a decline in their VSAT subscribers during the quarter. It should be noted that Hughes Communications and Bharti Airtel have combined the VSAT businesses of both companies in a new joint venture announced recently.