Pay DTH subscriber base shrank by 0.97 million in the quarter ended September 2021: TRAI report

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has released its quarterly report of subscriber figures for the DTH sector in the quarter ended on 30th September 2021. As per the report, the total subscriber base of pay DTH operators dropped to the lowest level in a year. Tata Sky and Dish d2h reported a decline in their user base while Airtel Digital TV and Sun Direct saw growth in their active subscribers. 

The overall active subscribers across all DTH service providers dropped by 0.97 million or 1.4% to reach 68.89 million in the September quarter. This is the lowest level in at least the past 12 months. In the previous quarter ended 30th June 2021, it was 69.86 million. 

Tata Sky saw a minor drop in the subscriber base while Dish TV lost almost one per cent of its users in a period of 3 months. Compared to the previous quarter, Airtel Digital TV market share increased from 25.76% to 26.11% (0.35% growth). Sun Direct reported decent 0.5% growth and its share was up at 17.91% from 17.41%. Tata Sky dropped from 33.37% to 33.34% (0.03% decline). Dish TV, d2h continued to lose the highest number of customers and its market share fell from 23.45% to 22.65% (sharp decline of 0.8%).

Tata Sky continues to hold the position of largest DTH operator in the country with 33.34% market share, followed by Bharti Telemedia’s Airtel Digital TV that is having a market share of 26.11%. Dish d2h is third, having 22.65% share and Sun Direct commands 17.91% market share.