Local telecom market keeps shrinking, but pay TV grows

The local telecommunications market shrank 3 percent last year compared to 2013, according to data released by the industry’s regulator.

The National Telecommunications & Post Commission (EETT) estimated that the market’s turnover in 2014 amounted to 5.24 billion euros, against 5.40 billion in 2013 and 5.92 billion in 2012.

Fixed-line telephony saw its connections drop to 4.78 million, while the share of OTE – the market’s leading player – in Internet connection lines fell to 58 percent from 61 percent in 2013.

Broadband Internet continue to grow, but not at an impressive rate, as its penetration level reached 28.5 percent last year from 26.3 percent the previous year, EETT data showed. Operating broadband connections came to 3.15 million at end-2014, up from 2.91 million at end-2013. There were 2.88 million double-play (telephony and Internet) subscribers in December 2014.

EETT stressed the spectacular growth in pay TV: From June 2013 to June 2014, there were 250,000 new satellite or Internet TV subscribers, raising their number to 820,000. Their total figure today is estimated to have topped 1 million.