Dstv subscription rates up by 25 per cent
Kampala.
Customers subscribing to Dstv services will, effective October 1, pay an average increment of 25 per cent.
The new rates for Premium, Compact+, Compact, Family and Access will be Shs334,000, Shs225,000, Shs128,000, Shs73,000 and Shs38,000 respectively.
Speaking in Kampala yesterday, MultiChoice Uganda general manager Charles Hamya said the current economic fundamentals, especially the falling Shilling, had warranted the increments.
“The revisions are necessary in order to cater for the continuous depreciation of the Shilling against the dollar which has negatively impacted our business whose input costs such as programming, infrastructure and satellite fees are mainly dollar-based,” Mr Hamya said.
“We held off passing on the cost of the depreciation by absorbing the losses for several months, however, this is not a sustainable business strategy; we find ourselves with no alternative but to revise our price rates upwards,” he added.
The Shilling has since the beginning of this year weakened against the dollar by more than 32 per cent, closing yesterday at Shs3,665.87.
This is the second time this year MultiChoice has increased its subscription rates with the last one in April.
MultiChoice had until April been pegging its subscription rates against the dollar but has since shifted to charging in Shillings.
Mr Hamya said the revisions will only affect customers on the Dstv platform but also indicated they were in the process of reviewing GOtv rates.
MultiChoice has a combined customer base of about 500,000 on its two platforms but majority of these (about 65 per cent) are GOtv subscribers.
The increment comes on the back of a leaked memo last month, which indicated that the company would increase most of its bouquets by 28 per cent.
Reacting then, MultiChoice said the document was only a working document awaiting an official announcement.
