It’s no longer news that there are African countries that feel cheated by DStv. One reason is that they feel they pay the highest subscription rates to DStv. So we went on a quest to find out who pays more. Surprisingly, it’s not the most populous black nation in Africa. Here is what we found.
The analysis of data gathered from DStv’s portal shows that the country with the highest DStv subscription rates is DR Congo at $105 per month, followed by Zimbabwe at $75 per month.
The country with the least subscription rates for DStv is Nigeria, at only $46 per month for its premium package. An analysis on TheCable also proves that packages are not the most expensive.
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| Analysis of DStv subscription rates in Africa. Photo by William Fortunato from Pexels. |
African Countries and their DStv Premium Rates
- DR Congo – $105 per month
- Zimbabwe – $75 per month
- Malawi – $74 per month
- Kenya – $72 per month
- Eritrea – $72 per month
- Mauritius – $68 per month
- Ethiopia – $67 per month
- Uganda – $62 per month
- Tanzania – $60 per month
- Ghana – $60 per month
- South Africa – $54 per month
- Namibia – $54 per month
- Eswatini – $54 per month
- Nigeria – $46 per month
DR Congo($105 per month)
Based on what we gathered from the Multichoice portal, DR Congo pays $105 for its premium package. DR Congo is currently the country with the highest Dstv subscription rates in Africa. At this price, there are 140 channels on DStv premium in DR Congo.
Zimbabwe ($75 per month)
Zimbabwe pays $75 per month for its premium package. At that price, you get 115 channels.
Malawi ($74 per month)
When converted to USD, Malawi pays $74 per month for the DStv premium. The local rate is at MWK 57,000. When converted to USD using the current exchange rate at MWK 771.22 per dollar, you get $74. At this price, there are 120 channels for DStv premium in Malawi.
Kenya ($72 per month)
The subscription rate for Kenya’s premium package is at KES 7,900. When converted to dollars at an exchange rate of KES 109.79 per dollar, the result is $72. At this price, the DStv premium package in Kenya contains 175 channels.
Mauritius ($68 per month)
Dstv premium in Mauritius contains 140 channels and the price is MUR 2,700 per month. At an exchange rate of $39.71 per MUR, the subscription rate is $68.
Ethiopia ($65 per month)
The next in line is Ethiopia. Their premium package cost ETB 2,600. When converted to dollars at an exchange rate of ETB 39.55 per dollar, you get a monthly rate of $65. At this price, Ethiopians using Dstv premium get 170 channels.
Uganda ($62 per month)
One of those countries with a scary exchange rate – UGX 3661.64 per dollar. Their premium package costs UGX 227,000 which is $62 per month. Judging from their exchange rates, this package will be used mostly by businesses. At this price, a premium subscriber in Uganda gets 140 channels.
Tanzania ($60 per month)
The premium package in Tanzania costs TZS 139,000 which amounts to $60 when converted. The package contains 150 channels.
Ghana ($60 per month)
Subscribers in Ghana get the premium package at GHS 350. When converted, that is about $60 per month. At this price, there are 90 channels on Dstv premium in Ghana.
South Africa ($54 per month)
This is the country that supplies DStv to the rest of Africa. South Africans pay R829 for DStv premium and there are 159 channels on the package. At an exchange rate of R15.04 per dollar, that’s $54 per month.
Learn More: DStv South Africa Packages
Namibia ($54 per month)
Just like South Africa, Namibia pays $54 for the premium package based on an exchange rate of NAD 14.96 per dollar. In their local currency, that is NAD 809 per month. At this price, you get 125 channels.
Eswatini ($54 per month)
Just like South Africa and Namibia, Eswatini (also known as Swaziland) pays $54. At an exchange rate of $15.05 per dollar, Eswatinians pay SZL 809 per month on premium.
Nigeria ($46 per month)
At $46 per month, Nigeria is the African country with the lowest Sstv subscription rate. At that price, Nigerians get 175 channels on DStv premium.
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How the Ratings for the Subscription Rates were gathered
We started by gathering the local subscription rate for DStv premium in each country. Then all the prices were converted to US dollars using the live currency exchange rates at Exchange Rates UK. Based on what we found, the table above was created to display our findings.
Related Post: TV Channels on Openview.
Do the subscription rates reflect value?
Every country in Africa receives distinct – though not unique – offerings for DStv premium. The numbers of channels are not the same and some TV channels are country-specific. As a result, the value of entertainment has no reasonable correlation with subscription rates.
Countries at $82 per month
Apart from the countries above, there are a lot of African countries that could not make the list because there was no comprehensive data about any of their packages on the DStv portal. It seems weird that premium packages for all these countries were at $82 per month and without any difference in the number of channels for each of them.
Since we couldn’t get reliable information on the premium package for these countries we left them out of the list. The countries are Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Togo, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Burundi, Mauritania, Cape Verde, Chad, Djibouti, and Eritrea.
Countries where currency could not be converted
The exchange rates for three African countries were unavailable; consequently, those countries were not included in the rankings.
Zambia. Zambians pay ZMW 880 per month for the premium package which gives them 190 channels every month.
Botswana. Botswana pays BWP per month for DStv premium. At that price they get 130 channels. 60 channels short of what Zambians get on their premium package.
The elite package in Angola is the Mega Bouquet. There are 180 channels on Mega and the price is AOA 22,000 per month. The next package is the premium package with 120 channels at a subscription rate of AOA 18,200 per month.
How many countries does DStv cover?
African entertainment giant Digital Satellite Television, popularly known as DStv provides affordable entertainment for 46 countries in Africa. Launched by MultiChoice Africa in 1995, DStv has grown to become the biggest digital satellite television provider in Africa.
List of countries covered by DStv
- Angola
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Djibouti
- DRC
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Ivory Coast
- Kenya
- Liberia
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Republic of the Congo
- Rwanda
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Eswatini
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
This settles the argument about who pays the most for DStv in Africa. It’s DR Congo. Nigeria has the lowest subscription price.
But again, subscription rates do not have a direct correlation with value. Some countries get more channels for a lesser amount of money. Also, Dstv offers a lot of country-specific channels which makes it extremely difficult to tell who gets the best kind of content when it comes to entertainment.
