Pan-African satellite television provider DStv is losing subscribers to terrestrial services according to a new report from Digital TV Research.

The report, Digital TV Sub-Saharan Africa Forecasts, says that satellite subscribers fell by 7.4% in 2015 and could decline further this year.

"Available in more than 50 countries, DStv had 2.24 million subscribers outside South Africa by September 2015; down from 2.56 million six months earlier and down from 2.36 million a year earlier," the report stated.

The research also added that by the end of 2015 the number of subscribers was estimated at 2.16 million.

Simon Murray, author of the fifth edition of the report, said: "DStv's problems stem mostly from its rights to exclusive premium content, especially sports. Currency devaluation in most Sub-Saharan countries hit DStv hard. Exclusive content rights for premium content such as English Premier League soccer are usually paid for in US dollars."

In September 2015 the company came under fire across Africa for increasing its fees due to currency devaluation.

This fuelled the perception among many that the service is expensive, as Murray explains: "DStv has been compelled to increase its local currency subscription fees to cover the shortfall due to devaluation. As a result, DStv appears more expensive to locals. To try and attract new subscribers, DStv has substantially reduced its decoder prices."

The report highlighted that 24 million TV homes in Africa switched to digital television by the end of 2015. Kenya, Gabon, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda all completed their digital switch by the end of last year.

"This count will increase from six countries at end-2015 to 11 by end-2016. Digital TV penetration will reach 99.9% in 35 forecast countries by 2021 – or 74.7 million homes," the report predicted.

Pay TV in Africa covered 16 million households with satellite constituting 10.66 million, while 5.64 million homes had DTT. Pay TV will take up 33.23 million households by 2021. Satellite TV will contribute 15.88 million and pay DTT another 14.85 million.

"DTT will challenge satellite as the top pay TV platform by 2021. In fact, satellite TV will only grow from 19.3% of TV households in 2015 to 21.2% by 2021, whereas pay DTT will rocket from 10.2% to 19.9% over the same period," the report said.