Nigeria pays least DSTV subscription of Multichoice countries
Nigeria pays the least DSTV subscription rates of countries where Pay Tv company, Multichoice, has its footprints, as deduced from a document seen by BusinessDay.
This is contrary to claims that Nigerian subscribers are among the most charged of its sub-Saharan peers where the firm operates.
Nigerian subscribers pay an average of N8, 250 monthly across all four subscription packages ranging from the higher priced premium plan to the more affordable family plan.
Using the Central Bank quoted exchange rate of N306 per dollar, this comes to $27, which is 58 percent less than the average rate of $42.88 paid by all 11 countries where Multi-choice operates, according to BusinessDay calculations. (See Fig.1)
Ghana pays the highest rate across all plans, and is followed closely by Tanzania and Uganda. While South Africa is second to Nigeria as one of the least charged.
| Old prices | Reductions | New prices (1 Nov) | Country currency | USD equivalent | |
| Premium | |||||
| – Ghana | 395.00 | 8% | 365 | GHC | 91.25 |
| – Kenya | 9,400.00 | 13% | 8,180 | KSH | 80.982 |
| – Uganda | 334,000.00 | 14% | 287,250 | UGX | 83.3025 |
| – Tanzania | 219,000.00 | 16% | 184,000 | TZS | 84.64 |
| – Zimbabwe | 81.00 | 11% | 72 | USD | 72 |
| – Ethiopia | 84.00 | 5% | 80 | USD | 80 |
| – DTH | 88.00 | 7% | 82 | USD | 82 |
| – Mauritius | 2,835.00 | 5% | 2,700 | MUR | 74.93 |
| – Malawi | 77.00 | 9% | 70 | USD | 70 |
| – Nigeria | 13, 980 | NGN | 43.68 | ||
| – South Africa | 759 | ZAR | 56.16 | ||
| Compact + | |||||
| – Ghana | 265.00 | 8% | 245.00 | GHC | 61.25 |
| – Kenya | 6,400.00 | 15% | 5,425.00 | KSH | 53.16 |
| – Uganda | 225,000.00 | 15% | 190,700.00 | UGX | 55.30 |
| – Tanzania | 147,000.00 | 17% | 122,500.00 | TZS | 56.35 |
| – Zimbabwe | 55.00 | 15% | 47.00 | USD | 47 |
| – Ethiopia | 60.00 | 9% | 54.00 | USD | 54 |
| – DTH | 59.00 | 10% | 53.00 | USD | 53 |
| – Mauritius | 1,700.00 | 7% | 1,645.00 | MUR | 45.82 |
| – Malawi | 53.00 | 15% | 45.00 | USD | 45 |
| – Nigeria | 9,420 | NGN | 29.43 | ||
| – South Africa (Extra) | 459 | ZAR | 33.96 | ||
| Compact | |||||
| – Ghana | 160.00 | 7% | 149.00 | GHC | 37.25 |
| – Kenya | 3,750.00 | 5% | 3,550.00 | KSH | 34.79 |
| – Uganda | 128,000.00 | 5% | 121,600.00 | UGX | 35.26 |
| – Tanzania | 84,500.00 | 5% | 82,250.00 | TZS | 37.83 |
| – Zimbabwe | 32.00 | 12% | 28.00 | USD | 28 |
| – Ethiopia | 33.00 | 0% | 33.00 | USD | 33 |
| – DTH | 31.00 | 7% | 29.00 | USD | 29 |
| – Mauritius | 1,088.00 | 0% | 1,088.00 | MUR | 30.30 |
| – Malawi | 30.00 | 7% | 28.00 | USD | 28 |
| – Nigeria | 6,000 | NGN | 18.75 | ||
| – South Africa | 345 | ZAR | 25.53 | ||
| Family | |||||
| – Ghana | 95.00 | 10% | 85.00 | GHC | 21.25 |
| – Kenya | 2,150.00 | 12% | 1,900.00 | KSH | 18.62 |
| – Uganda | 73,000.00 | 9% | 66,750.00 | UGX | 19.35 |
| – Tanzania | 51,000.00 | 16% | 42,900.00 | TZS | 19.73 |
| – Zimbabwe | 21.00 | 21% | 17.00 | USD | 17 |
| – Ethiopia | 21.00 | 8% | 19.00 | USD | 19 |
| – DTH | 23.00 | 15% | 19.00 | USD | 19 |
| – Mauritius | 714.00 | 11% | 665.00 | MUR | 18.52 |
| – Malawi | 21.00 | 24% | 16.00 | USD | 16 |
| – Nigeria | 3,600 | NGN | 11.25 | ||
| – South Africa | 219 | ZAR | 16.20 |
Fig.1- Nigerian subscribers still pay least DSTV subscription rates, despite price reduction in some countries
Source: Multichoice
“For two years, prices were not increased in Nigeria until April 2015. Even when they were increased, they remained substantially lower than in other countries,” Caroline Oghuma, the company’s Public Relations Manager told BusinessDay.
“MultiChoice made a decision to absorb costs on behalf of the Nigerian subscriber because the company recognizes that the country is passing through a difficult economic phase,” Oghuma added.
Nigeria’s 180 million people are scuffling with accelerating inflation, high unemployment rates and squeezed incomes and have been vocal about their struggles to afford DSTV.
These are pass-through effects from the country’s worst economic slump dating back to 1991, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.
Unemployment is at 13.9 percent, the highest in six years, and although inflation cooled for the first time in 15 months in February 2017-on the back of base effects, the food index is still at an 11-year high.
Foreign-currency shortages, after the Central Bank of Nigeria removed a currency peg in June, causing the naira to lose almost 40 percent of its value against the dollar, has pushed the inflation rate to the highest in more than a decade as the costs of imports surged.
To ease the pain on households, MultiChoice recently launched a new loyalty programme called “DStv Thanks” in Nigeria and select African countries, where DStv subscribers will be getting access to additional TV channels for free, if they remain subscribed for at least 3 months.
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