Audiovisual services and mobile broadband, drivers of growth in the telecommunications sector in 2018

Fixed broadband lines with speeds equal to or greater than 30 Mbps already represent 70% of the fleet. Pay television subscribers increased to 6.6 million.

The liberalization of telecommunications has had a notable impact on society and has allowed Spain to make a qualitative leap in convergence with Europe.

According to the latest report of the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), in recent times we have gone from a client that basically consumes fixed telephony products to one that consumes convergent and packaged products.

Los retail income In 2018 they followed the same trend as 2017 and registered slight increases due to the rise in audiovisual and broadband services, which offset the decrease in voice, fixed and mobile services.

Las fixed broadband lines they grow at a rate of 3.6%, while the number of fixed telephone lines decreases. Fixed broadband lines with speeds equal to or greater than 30 Mbps rise to represent 70% of the park.

The fixed broadband fees of the three main operators They continue to fall (although they still represent 90% of the total), in favor of Grupo Masmóvil. FTTH lines continue to increase, while xDSL and cable lines decrease.

Mobile lines and mobile broadband lines are also growing with rates of around 3% and 5% respectively. The shares of the three main ones fall (they together represent 80%) and that of the Masmóvil group rises.

Pay television subscribers grow by 8% and IP TV is consolidated as the majority, whose growth is 18%, while satellite and cable fall. Movistar's share grows to almost 60% of total subscribers.

Regarding packaging, they continue to grow quintuple packages which include pay television and quadruples are maintained by the Masmóvil Group. Together they amount to almost 12 million packages as of June 2018.

Household expenses remain at levels similar to those at the end of 2017. On average, the five-fold package costs 79.3 euros per month and the quadruple package costs 53 euros per month.

Finally, note that the accesos NGA FTTH accesses continue to rise, with a year-on-year increase of 24.5%, while HFC accesses remain stable.

Audiovisual

Los income from audiovisual services They stood at 1,170 million euros, with a year-on-year increase of 4.1%.

Pay television, with 555 million, rose 6.4%, and, to a lesser extent, free-to-air television rose, with 506 million and a 0.8% growth.

Pay TV subscribers registered an increase of 8.1% year-on-year, standing at 6.6 million, although they recorded a decline of 80 thousand subscribers compared to the previous quarter. IP TV was the majority option with 4.2 million subscribers.