By Stuart Thomson
The price of quad-play packages in Spain that exclude TV fell, but the price of quint-play services that also cover pay TV rose over the course of 2021, according to figures released by the CNMC, the country’s markets regulator.
According to the watchdog, the price of quad-play packages comprising fixed and mobile telephony and fixed and mobile broadband fell by 5 per cent, with post-paid mobile services falling by an average of 6.8 per cent, but the price of quint-play packages including pay TV rose by 2.8 per cent.
Quad-play homes were paying an average of €46.60(US$49.08) in the fourth quarter, while quint-play homes with pay TV paid an average of €80.10.
The price of quad-play without TV has fallen steadily over the course of the last five years, but the price of quint-play services rose in 2019 before falling in 2020 and then rising again.
The CNMC found that two in five Spanish hones took quint-play services thus defined in 2021, up two percentage points on the previous year.
Overall, 40.3 per cent of homes took such a service, compared with 31.4 per cent who took fixed and mobile phone and internet packages without TV.
Of the remainder, 13.3 per cent took mobile phone and internet only, 7.2 per cent took telephony only and 7.7 per cent took some other combination.
Some 47.8 per cent of Spanish homes took pay TV, a figure that has continued to climb steadily. Some 23.7 per cent of home said that they took pay TV primarily because it was included in a multi-play package, while 19.5 per cent said they subscribed to have access to channels offering TV series and 14.4 per cent said they signed up for access to live sport.
