Rostelcom looks to satellite pay-TV
November 25, 2013
By Chris Forrester
Russian telco Rostelcom says it is looking to buy a satellite pay-TV operator. News agency Itar-TASS quotes Rostelcom as saying that it wishes to expand its current pay-TV subscriber base (6.6 million as at December 2012) by moving into the satellite-based pay-TV business and the fastest way to do this would be to acquire a satellite player.
Itar-TASS says the news emerged as part of Rostelcom’s draft strategy document which says that it wants to grow its pay-TV business by 22-25 per cent over the next 5 years.
Itar-TASS suggests that Orion Express could be the acquisition target.
Rostelcom claims 1.4 million IPTV subscribers as at the end of last year, and in October reportedly ordered a total of 656,000 new IPTV set-top boxes.