ASTRO Malaysia Holdings Bhd (Astro) will not be increasing its overall subscription price on the back of the impending implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) next year.
According to chief executive officer Datuk Rohana Rozhan, the existing service tax will simply be converted into GST thus not affecting the price.
“We are already charging a six per cent service tax. That six per cent will be converted into GST and there won’t be a price change,” she said after the launch of eight new high- definition (HD) and two standard-definition (SD) channels, here, yesterday.
“However, the HD fee will be revised from RM20 to RM25 starting next month and this is the first HD price revision since the launch of the service in 2009.”
Rohana said despite possible economic slowdown and higher inflation next year, Astro will continue to build on its customers base and overall business.
“Our mid-to long-term goal is to grow our customer base and we are doing this by offering numerous packages across multiple platforms as well as the provision prepaid options which allow customers to customise packages according to financial capacity,” she said.
“On top of that, we are diligently growing our average revenue per user by catering to the top end segment, which represents 30 per cent of our existing 4.2 million households.
We are also see a growth in our advertising revenue, which has traditionally contributed up to seven per cent to the group’s revenues.”
She expects that Astro’s sale of content and programming to grow in Malaysia and also regionally.
Astro launched two new packages yesterday; the Fans Pack, catering to sports fans and the Astro Super Pack Plus (ASPP) for those interested in regional content as well as the latest Hollywood offerings.
The packs are priced at RM99 and RM178 respectively and all Astro HD customers will be able to enjoy the new HD and SD channels for free from November 16 to February 28 next year.
“We are targeting 100,000 new subscriptions for the ASPP packages for the 12 months from March next year as the demand for HD services is on the rise,” said chief operating officer, Liew Swee Lin.
Astro is currently being enjoyed by 4.2 million households and 16 millions viewers nationwide. It is now offering 182 channels, with the addition of the 10 new channels yesterday, of which 48 are in high definition.