Luxembourg – SES announced that it has further increased its reach in 2012, driven by strong gains, especially in India and Germany. SES now reaches 276 million TV homes worldwide, over 17 million homes more than in 2011.

The most important growth driver of the increase in reach was India, with a year-on-year gain of 7.5 million TV homes. The two very successful DTH platforms, Dish TV and Airtel Digital TV, now reach 25 million Indian TV homes with SES satellites. The SES capacity in India is contracted through the Indian Space Research Organisation. The Indian DTH market is growing at a fast pace, with an average increase of more than 800,000 subscribers per month in 2012. Dish TV is the largest DTH operator in India and Asia. Airtel is one of the fastest growing DTH operators in India and joined the SES platform in 2011.

Germany has also again contributed significantly to the growth of satellite reach in 2012. The switch-off of analogue satellite signals and the success of the platform HD+ have contributed to a further growth of the satellite reach by more than 500,000 to over 18 million homes in 2012.