Colombia, Peru fuel Telefónica's global pay-TV business


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Juan Fernandez Gonzalez

| 27 February 2016




Since Telefónica rebranded itself a video-telco, its pay-TV and video operations haven't stopped growing worldwide, with Colombia and Peru becoming the company's powerhouse in 2015.



telefonica peruAccording to 2015 results, Telefónica reached 8.3 million pay-TV subs worldwide, one in three of them based in Spain, where the company consolidated Canal+'s buy-out and claims 3.7 million subs (10% up), even though external reports have shown over four million subs.

But in Latin America, where Telefónica is still far off the largest video players, the telco's pay-TV operations reached 4.6 million subs, 16% more than by December 2015, fuelled by Peru and Colombia.

In Peru, Telefónica has found its brightest spot in Latin America. As of December 2015, pay-TV subs stood at 1.2 million customers at the end of the year (+27% year-on-year). In fact, the telco is a clearly dominant player, owning over 65% of the pay-TV market according to official figures.

In Colombia, César Alierta's company reached 489,000 pay-TV accesses, growing by 17% and consolidating as fourth player following América Móvil's Claro, UNE-Tigo and DirecTV.

Telefónica has also seen growth in Chile's pay-TV market (645,000 subs, 7% up) and Brazil's, where it owns 1.8 million subs after integrating GVT earlier this year.

On a global scale, Telefónica's net profit increased nearly 30% year-on-year, and excluding non-recurring impacts, reached €5,79 billion.