The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Pay-TV subscribers in The Bahamas declined by almost 14,000 over the four years to end-2020 as Netflix and other video streaming services continue to lure customers away.

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), in its 2020 annual report, revealed that Cable Bahamas’ and the Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) combined subscriber bases declined by 3.5 percent - or a further 3,500 customers - that year.

That followed a 6,500 customer fall, or nine percent decline, in 2019, and a 3,800 drop-off in 2018 which occurred despite the presence of BTC’s Flow TV service to provide some competition to BISX-listed Cable Bahamas’ long-standing dominance in the sector.

“Despite competition entering the market for this service, five years of data shows that there has not been a consistent growth trend and subscriptions have declined in the past four years,” URCA said.

“The trend indicates that this service has been on a downward trend prior to COVID-19. In 2020, this service saw a further five percent decline in subscriptions compared to 2019. This followed a nine percent decline when looking at 2019 vs. 2018 subscriptions.”

Total pay-TV subscribers in The Bahamas have thus dropped from a 76,300 peak in 2017 to around 62,400 at end-2020. The data was released with Cable Bahamas currently in the middle of a public consultation as part of efforts to obtain regulatory approval to restructure its TV channel and package line-up.

URCA previously agreed that Cable Bahamas is not earning a “worthwhile” rate of return on its REVTV product, with subscriber numbers set to further decrease unless the restructuring is approved - a concern that would appear to be backed by the latest industry data.

Cable Bahamas also told this newspaper that the TV channel package restructuring was designed to better reflect consumer demands and enhance its competitiveness against rival video streaming services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu.

Elsewhere, COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, combined with increasing numbers of Bahamians and residents working/schooling at home, drove a 43 percent year-over-year increase in mobile data-only subscribers, according to URCA.

Acknowledging that this acts as a substitute for fixed broadband Internet, the regulator added: “Mobile data-only services are another growing market and relate to the total number of active subscribers to mobile Internet service via a laptop, tablet with 3G/4G connectivity or a USB dongle.....

“In 2020, mobile data showed a strong 43 percent increase in total subscribers. It is not clear if this trend is expected to continue but gains in this indicator could be pinned to a number of reasons such as an increased use of mobile data to share information and remain informed on latest COVID-19 updates and protocols.”

Mobile data-only subscribers jumped from under 20,000 to around 27,500 year-over-year. However, mobile voice customers fell-off by five percent in 2020, which URCA attributed to the pandemic’s economic impact on consumers of Aliv and BTC.

“Mobile voice subscribers showed an uptick in the past four years, with the exception of 2017,” it added. “However, this trend did not occur in 2020, likely as a result of the economic impact of the pandemic.

“To this end, data collected from mobile operators revealed a five percent decline, landing the number of subscribers at 403,759 in 2020. Simultaneously, mobile voice penetration for 2020 compared to 2019 fell by 6 percent.

“While mobile voice subscribers showed an overall decline, there was a year-over-year increase in the amount of post-paid subscribers by eight percent, which suggested that the fall in total subscribers was contributed by a decline in prepaid subscribers at 7.5 percent.”

As for fixed broadband, subscriber numbers declined slightly to 80,913 in 2020 compared to 83,403 the prior year, representing a three percent decline. As a result, the broadband Internet penetration rate went from 21.64 percent the previous year to 20.78 percent in 2020.

Total Bahamian communications sector revenues fell by 14 percent year-over-year in 2020, dropping to $355m as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted businesses and consumers, although industry employment finished the year up 2.1 percent while there was an increase in capital investments for broadband Internet.

Fixed-line voice subscribers, meanwhile, fell by 8,600 or nine percent to 87,400 by year-end 2020. “This decline is consistent with data for the past four years which show a continuous downward trend,” URCA said. “This trend is reflective of global trends as consumers move to more modern voice communication technologies. Therefore, the adverse economic impact of COVID-19 should not be pinned as a leading factor for the reduction.”