NAIROBI, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's migration to digital TV has maintained an upward trajectory, registering tremendous growth as subscription to pay TV soars.
More Kenyan households have taken up pay TV services since the country made the switch in February 2015, latest data from Communication Authority of Kenya for the period January to March shows Monday.
Some 4.5 million households in the East African country have migrated to digital TV, the regulator's data showed, up from about a million when the country shifted to digital migration.
Of the number, 3.7 million households are using pay TV, a big boost in a nation where the services were deemed as for the rich. Set-top-boxes makes up for the remainder of the households that have switched.
"The cumulative number of digital free-to-air set-top boxes purchased as at the end of the quarter under review increased to 725,205 from 722,196 representing an insignificant growth of 0.4 percent while pay TV rose to 3.7 million from 3.5 million," said the regulator.
Currently, there are about six pay TV service providers in Kenya both via satellite and internet, with the number having grown from three before the big switch. These are DStv, GoTV, Showmax, Startimes, Azam TV and Zuku TV.
Subscription fees range from 4 U.S. dollars a month to 60 dollars a month, with the charges having come down due to fierce competition among the service providers.
The rise in the number of pay TV subscriptions in Kenya could be attributed to increased coverage of signal following digital migration.
Unlike the free-to-air TV signal which is unavailable in some parts of the country, especially those in remote places, pay TV signal is nearly everywhere across the nation.
About 75 percent of Kenya's population now receive TV signal up from half the number when there was analogue signal, according to the regulator.
With digital migration, viewers have an array of channels to watch even as the number of free-to-air channels declined in the period under review.
"As at the end of the quarter under review, the number of free-to-air TV channels on the digital terrestrial platform stood at 60 down from 66 recorded in the preceding quarter.
This decline is attributed to financial constraints experienced by some of the content providers," said the authority.
But besides the free-to-air channels, TV viewers can now select what pay TV service providers to subscribe to based on their content, with some taking up services from more than one company.
"I have subscribed to two pay TV companies. One offers satellite services from which I view local and international news channels, including the English Premier League while the other is an internet-based movie channel. I am happy with both," Duncan Omollo, a senior banker in Nairobi, said Monday.
Analysts noted that the sale of set-top-boxes in Kenya has seemingly stagnated as compared to uptake of pay TV because of the introduction of digital TV sets in the East African nation.
"Several manufacturers are currently selling the TV sets in Kenya from 200 dollars to 800 dollars as the old models are phased out. Households are therefore opting to buy the new gadgets than purchasing a TV and then a set-top-box separately as it makes no economic sense," said Bernard Mwaso, a consultant with Edell IT Solutions in Nairobi.
Free-to-air set-top-boxes are currently going for an average of 35 dollars in the East African nation from about 50 dollars before the switch.
"With people getting the free-to-air TV signal without the set-top-box, households are therefore going for pay TV, which is a sort of value addition," said Mwaso.
