Africa's Pay-TV Operators Boosted by new Platforms - Ovum

Thecla Mbongue, senior analyst for Ovum MEA, said that despite a lack of funds to accelerate the DTT switchover process, Africa's DTT/VOD and TV segments have been boosted by new platforms and increased availability of local content in the last year.

Mbongue stated this in a market overview and forecasts presentation at West Africa Com on 8 June.

"Despite a lot of announcements and a lot of enthusiasm from the authorities, Pay-TV operators still have a bright future at least for the short-term as DTT is yet to take off, but also because Pay-TV key players, with more funds, continue secure premium content and invest increasingly in VoD," Mbongue noted citing market leader Canal + as having invested hugely in local content during 2015.

That helped Canal + add 500,000 subscribers over the year to March 2016, she added, when the group passed the two million subscribers mark in Africa and launched its DTT services branded "Easy TV" in Congo Republic in 1Q16.

"VoD is becoming a key element of TV operators' strategies. In Q4 2015, Orange group announced its participation in funding SVoD platform Afristream currently available in Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal. In Q1 2016, Netflix launched its platform across Africa and in May 2016, South Africa's Africa data traffic over fixed broadband networks exceeded 630PB in 2015, set to reach 2,000PB in 2020."

This is predicated on the Africa data traffic over cellular + Wi-Fi networks which is set to reach 8,000PB in 2020 having exceeded 1,200PB in 2015 and over fixed broadband networks which could reach 2,000PB in 2020 from 630PB in 2015.

West Africa's markets lag behind the regional average due to delays in broadband networks' launches despite generating 28% of Africa's mobile revenues in 4Q15. Its Francophone markets are the most impacted by delays in 4G spectrum licensing.