ITV

Category: Multi System Operators

  • 952 MSOs have provisional registration, 31 permitted this month

    MUMBAI: The MIB has released a list of 952 multi-system operators (MSOs) which have been granted provisional registration in digital addressable system (DAS) as on 28 February, 2017.

    Earlier, the MIB granted registration to 230 multi-system operators (MSOs) for ten years as on 13 February, 2017, to operate digital addressable system (DAS). As per MIB order no. 2/108/2015-DAS dated 27 January, 2017, all these registered MSOs can operate anywhere in India. 

    The MIB has also released earlier a list of 45 multi-system operators (MSO) the registration of which to operate DAS had been cancelled (as on 13 February, 2017) or their pending cases have been closed. 

    Of the MSOs listed on the MIB site, permission to one MSO has been restored, and the order for closure of two has been withdrawn. 

    For Kal Cables Pvt Ltd (Chennai),  the MIB order of cancellation of MSO registration has been withdrawn and provisional registration granted on 13 January 2017. For S.S.R. Cable Network (Adilabad, Telangana), the order for closure of application has been withdrawn and provisional registration was issued on 19 January 2017.

    For Nakerkal Communications, the MIB order for closure of application has also been withdrawn and the provisional registration was issued on 10 January 2017.

    The full provisional registration list can be seen here

     

    Also Read:

    MSO renewals and cancellations list released

    MSO registrations remain slow even as DAS deadlines approach

    Report illegal TV channels, Govt alerted

  • DEN Networks launches DEN TV+, OTT services

    MUMBAI: DEN Networks, one of the largest cable MSO in India, has launched its user-friendly online / live streaming platform today- DEN TV+ where users can access / watch the content on the go. Exclusively for DEN Cable & Broadband subscribers, it is available for download on all the devices which are on Android and iOS platforms.

    Commenting on the launch, DEN Networks Pvt. Ltd. CEO SN Sharma said, “We are excited to launch DEN TV+, DEN’s very own mobile TV app, where our viewers can now watch TV on their mobiles & tablets. Being a leading distribution platform, the idea is to complement our CATV offering to consumers and make it available for our customers on the move anytime, anywhere. DEN TV+ provides live streaming of 130 TV channels, 2500+ movies and recorded videos including popular shows/serials, devotional content, lifestyle content and much more. The service is currently free of cost as an initial launch offer. We are always exploring newer ways to provide value for money to our viewers and today’s evolving technology helps us cater to their changing lifestyle needs.”

    On-demand entertainment services led by audio and video content are at the cusp of inflection point in India. In line with global trend, there is a marked shift in consumer preferences towards digital media consumption as compared to traditional forms of media which include TV, print press, and radio. Increasing internet penetration and mobile device proliferation and convenience of consuming the content anytime, anywhere are the key drivers for this trend.

    Key Features

    – Exciting content – 130 Live Channels, 2500 movies and 10,000 Hours of Video on Demand (including Movies, Popular Shows/Serials, Devotional Content, Lifestyle Content and much more) in Hindi, English and many regional languages 

    • Non-Stop News
    • Data Saving Feature
    • Best Video Recommendations
    • Multi-screen Viewing
    • Adaptive Bitrate
    • Easy Controls

    Equipped with data saving feature / mode, Den TV+ allows users to manage their data consumption while getting the best video recommendations for their viewing pleasure.

    Den TV+ is packed with functionalities ranging from multi-screen viewing, adaptive bitrate, easy controls and many more. In addition, users can view the entire TV guide for the upcoming week and set up reminders for their favorite TV shows. Further, users can browse the app without interrupting watching experience by minimizing the new video player. 

    The TV channels available on this mobile TV are across genres including movies, general entertainment, news and music in Hindi, English and many regional languages. Some of the channels on the platform are B4U, 9X Jalwa, India TV, Zoom, Aaj Tak, ABP News, BBC World News, ET Now, Times Now, India Today, News Nation, DD News, B4U Music, Mh1, 9XM Music, Aastha, Disha, Divya, Darshan24, Gurbani TV and Sadhna TV. Besides live TV channels, this mobile TV will offer movies like ‘Singham’, ‘Holiday’, ‘Ragini MMS 2’, ‘Hate Story’, ‘Raaz 3’ and many more. Additionally, it will offer special content like prank videos, Comedy TV, Kids TV, Prankbaaz, Yoga TV, original mobile series with Priyanka Chopra, and mobile talent discovery platform by Imtiaz Ali. 

    Den TV+ is the only mobile TV video app from India to offer instant access to Non-Stop News. It intends to add more movies, more music, recipes, jokes, games, fitness videos, DIY Videos, comedy shows, karaoke music, educational videos, sports videos / talk shows, plays, horoscopes, Bollywood news and vine in the coming months.

    To access the platform, DEN subscribers will need to enter just the VC card number of the Set Top Box (STB). Users will be able to access up to two devices under one unique VC number.

    Also Read :

    DEN to launch 4k, ‘open’ STBs, give a leg-up to HD, b’band service

  • DEN to launch 4k, ‘open’ STBs, give a leg-up to HD, b’band services

    NEW DELHI: The Sameer Manchanda-promoted DEN Networks Ltd is planning to launch feature-rich 4k and `open’ set-top-boxes in the near future, apart from continuing to push its HD STBs. The reason: enrich consumer experience and keep pace with evolving global trends, which have started reflecting in a price-sensitive Indian market too.

    As digitisation of Indian cable TV services rolls on with the final analog sunset date of 31 March 2017 not far off, DEN is also aiming to push its broadband service in approximately 20 more towns and cities over an year.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, DEN CEO SN Sharma said, “We do plan to launch 4k boxes over the next six months and are also working on an ‘open’ box to keep pace with evolving technologies and global trends very much visible in markets like the US and Europe. Such boxes would be rich in features like digital video recorder, in-built apps and go a long way in changing consumer experience.”

    Would the strategy to launch 4k and feature-rich boxes work in a price sensitive market like India? While admitting limitations to such boxes in terms of gaining mass popularity, especially as supply of 4K programming is still scarce, Sharma added, “As consumer behaviour has changed and is still changing, we feel there would be a sizable number of buyers for high-end boxes, including HD, if properly marketed to consumers.”

    Further explaining the reason behind this renewed push for HD and other consumer-enriching boxes, though comparatively costlier than the present ones, he said DEN is attempting to “keep pace” with DTH services, which had an advantage of starting off as a digital service unlike analog cable trying to convert to digital and other technologies like OTT.

    “We aim to seed in the market at least one million HD boxes over the next 12 months,” Sharma elaborated, adding, “I was surprised to get feedbacks from consumers and partner LCOs after touring small towns. There’s a fairly good demand for HD boxes in such places too. And, sitting in metros, we used to think consumers in small places of India would not be able to afford HD boxes, which are certainly costlier than the normal boxes given to them earlier. Our HD initiative has started.”

    According to figures available with the government and some investors, DEN has deployed 200,000 boxes in digitisation’s phase 3 and 4 with digital subscribers of the company contributing Rs. 10.2 crore or Rs 102 million in Q3 of FY 2016-17 to the overall quarterly revenue kitty. Overall subscriber base is 10+ million.

    The vigour with which cable services, especially digital, are being pushed is not without reason too. Apart from evolving with times, financial results too have shown concentration on the company’s core business (cable TV services) yields dividends. For example, amongst the few other highlights of FY17Q3, cable subscriptions registered a strong growth of 15 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Not only digital addressable system (DAS) phase 1 EBITDA stood at 30+ per cent, DAS phase 3’s monetisation was Rs. 65 (inclusive of taxes) as on December ’16.
    Expanding cable business also throws up other options at revenue generation. Sharma’s remit from the company board and investors is also to focus on increasing the broadband business of DEN bringing hi-speed broadband network to consumers’ homes, which is perfectly in line with PM Modi’s vision of `Digital India’.

    DEN plans to launch its broadband services in 15 to 20 new towns over the next six to nine months. And the confidence to give this segment of the business a leg up has come from the fact that broadband EBITDA got even for Q3 FY’17 despite the freebie blitz unveiled by Reliance Jio and other telcos during that time.

    According to data available, DEN added 20k broadband subscribers in Q3 FY’17 with the total subscriber base being 159,000; the figure for homes-passed standing at 864,000. While the year-on-year growth for broadband business was 82 per cent as on Q3, the total revenue and ARPU for the quarter were Rs 210 million and Rs 752, respectively.

    Keep tuned in for Sharma’s full-length interview coming soon on Indiantelevision.com where he speaks on an array of subjects from reasons behind renewed focus on core business of the company, shedding loss-making investments, the way Indian landscape has changed with digitisation, DEN’s insistence on cable subscription collections, getting future-ready to whether M&A is an option to fuel company’s growth.

  • Spectranet enters next phase of broadband expansion in south India

    MUMBAI: Spectranet has announced its next phase of expansion in south India by launching in Bengaluru.

    One of the first 100 per cent optical fibre broadband service provider , Spectranet company offers truly unlimited usage with symmetric speed of 100 mbps which means that the users will get both 100mbps upload and download speeds. The company offers next generation fiber broadband services with a capability of offering 1 Gbps speeds for residential and 10 Gbps for business customers.

    Spectranet claims to be India’s only end to end pure optical fiber network enabled Internet service provider, capable of delivering speeds of 1 Gbps and more for both home & business segment. With headquarters in Gurgaon, its fiber network presence is currently spread across eight major cities.

    Spectranet’s unique 100mbps unlimited offering will enable consumers to do so much more such as enjoy services like Netflix, use smart TV features, connect more devices. This will be an enabler for the masses as they now will be able to utilize products and services which they were unable to use because of non-availability of good quality broadband.

    The company has invested heavily in its customer support team and have very robust mechanisms to service customer requests. By purchasing the initial launch phase offer, customers will be secured of any changes in launch offer plan for the next 24 months which is only available for the 30 days and after that it would be moved to the regular plan.

    Spectranet managing director & CEO Udit Mehrotra said “Bengaluru being the IT hub of the country was our natural choice to begin our foray into the southern markets. With tech-savvy residents who have a preference for quality services, we are very excited to unleash the third age of connectivity from here. Fibre being the most advanced technology enables broadband to work years on years without the customers needing to upgrade their cables. This enables us to potentially provide speeds 100 times beyond what the customers are experiencing now and enhance their experience. In US, minimum broadband speed is 25 mbps, we want to bring our customers at par with the global broadband users.”

    The company has started off by providing broadband connectivity to the prominent addresses in the city like Bannerghatta, Electronic City, Kundalhalli, Bellandur and will be adding more areas in a phased out fashion.

    Also Read

    http://www.indiantelevision.com/cable-tv/multi-system-operators/msos-among-top-5-fastest-net-providers-telco-airtel-leads-the-pack-170217

    http://www.indiantelevision.com/cable-tv/people/den-networks-appoints-sanjay-jain-as-group-cto-150519

  • Odisha MSO sealed for showing unauthorised channel

    NEW DELHI: Mahaveer Digital, a multi-system operator in Odisha, has been sealed by the concerned authorities for telecasting an unauthorised television channel.

    Giving this information, an official of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry however declined to give the name of the unauthorised channel or its place of origin.

    Earlier, in December last year, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry wrote to the concerned officers in Jaipur district of Odisha to conduct a check on MSOs showing illegal channels in Odisha.

    Following this, the Collectorate of Jajpur had sent a letter to all concerned officials on 27 December 2016 to conduct inquiry on a letter received from the Deputy Secretary of the I and B Ministry and submit a report to the Collectorate for suitable action.

    The Jajpur-based MSO Mahaveer Digital owned by Jatindra Nath Sahoo had been granted a provisional licence on 17 November last year for operating in the entire state of Odisha.

    Also Read:

    Report illegal TV channels, Govt alerted

    Indian govt warns against re-transmission of Peace TV illegally

  • MSOs among Top 5 fastest net providers, telco Airtel leads the pack

    MUMBAI: Cable TV companies have begun featuring in the country’s top five companies that lead in providing the fastest internet speed and downloads.

    Although lead by the top telecom company Bharti Airtel, the cable TV companies in the fast-net list are — 7 Star Digital and Hathway, according to the Netflix ISP Speed Index.

    For the third time since September 2016, the average download speed on Bharti Airtel’s mobile network was measured to be the highest in January at 8.42 megabit per second (mbps), according to the latest data published by TRAI, the telecom regulator. Netflix Index also rated Airtel as the fastest ISP with 2.25 Mbps Speed.

    Also, a Credit Suisse report published this month stated that Airtel 4G offered the best download speeds in general at around 12Mbps based on its study conducted across 30 cities, and that Vodafone, Jio and Idea were close to 7-8Mbps.

    The average mobile data speed per month published by TRAI showed that the download speed on Airtel almost doubled in January from 4.68 mbps in the preceding months, PTI reported. The monthly average speed on India’s largest broadband service-provider Jio however reduced by over half to 8.34 mbps from 18.14 mbps peak speed that it registered in December 2016.

    TRAI collects information and calculates on a real-time basis the speed of mobile data from subscribers across India with the help of MySpeed application.

    The Netflix ISP Speed Index meantime also rated Airtel as the fastest Internet Service Provider with 2.25 Mbps Speed. The Index announced Airtel to be the fastest internet service provider followed by Spectranet, 7 Star Digital and ATRIA Convergence. While Airtel gives broadband services via cable, DSL, wireless and fiber, Spectranet provides its broadband services through fiber.

    7 Star offers cable TV, digital Media, broadband and entertainment services. It holds an ISP license to offer broadband in Mumbai and is also the first HD content provider across India. ATRIA speed fell below 2.18 Mbps, and Hathway climbed a spot higher to pocket the fifth position with 1.93 Mbps speed, followed by YOU with 1.84 Mbps speed.

    Meantime, in an attempt to check mobile service quality, TRAI has begun operator-assisted tests that capture real-time data to monitor the level of call drops and voice quality across multiple cities. The tests involves the telcos’ equipment and costs, with TRAI supervising the process.

    The tests have already taken place in Mathura (UP-West circle), Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh), Jaisalmer, (Rajasthan), and Mangalore (Karnataka), among other. Tests are under way or slated to be conducted over the coming weeks in locations include Kalyan, Noida, Jammu, Guwahati-Dispur, Mysore, Hyderabad, Rajkot, Bhopal, and Jhansi, as per the schedule drawn up by the regulator.

  • Premium VAS: Shemaroo, Hathway tie up

    MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd, one of the leading content owners, is joining hands with Hathway, one of the largest cable networks to change the dynamics of TV viewing in India.

    For the first time now, the audience can enjoy premium paid ad-free services on cable TV. A platter of popular services namely Miniplex, Comedywalas, Om Shakti, Ibaadat, Lamhe Movies and Yippee are now available on cable TV as well.

    As part of the launch, the said services are offered free to the consumers for the first month, ushering them with an experience of next generation TV viewing. Post this period, these services will be available at different price points.

    Shemaroo director Hiren Gada said, “This is a big leap, not only for Shemaroo but for the industry as well. Shemaroo Entertainment has always been among the pioneers when it comes to changing technology and consumer needs and adapting the same to reach and better serve our audience.”

    He also added, “Having successfully launched a number of VAS (Value added service) services across genres on multiple DTH platforms, Shemaroo Entertainment now expands its reach to cable viewers. Our tie up with Hathway will usher a new era in Cable TV viewing.”

    Hathway CEO T. Panesar said, “Shemaroo happens to be the leader in media content with a hold of the largest content library in India. Hathway’s all new Value Added Services – Hathway Special promises to offer the maximum and the best to its subscribers. We are happy to partner with Shemaroo and are confident that with this partnership, we will fulfil our promise by providing quality and the best services to all our subscribers.”

  • Siti subs rev up; one million subs migrate to pre-paid billing

    BENGALURU: The Subhash Chandra-led Siti Networks Limited (Siti) formerly known as Siti Cable Network Limited, reported 40 percent growth in subscription revenue for the nine month period ended 31 December 2016 (9M-19, YTD) which the company says was Rs 408 in its earnings release.

    To further enhance the collections from the ground, Siti says that it is moving to pre-paid billing from current post-paid mode. To achieve this objective pre-paid billing has commenced in select states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh across 60 locations with 1 million subscribers migrated to pre-paid as of now. Siti says that it is looking to roll out pre-paid billing across all geographies in the near future.

    Consolidated Total Income from Operations (TIO) for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-17, current quarter) declined 13.2 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) to Rs 298.46 crore from Rs 344 crore in Q3-16, but increased 3.3 percent quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) from Rs 288.97 crore in Q2-17.

    Consolidated simple EBIDTA without other income for the current quarter declined 42.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 55.02 crore (18.4 percent of TIO, margin) from Rs 95.45 crore (27.7 percent margin), but increased 16.2 percent q-o-q from rs 47.34 crore (16.4 percent margin). The company reported a lower q-o-q net loss in the current quarter at Rs 26.34 crore as compared to a net loss of Rs 46.89 crore in the immediate trailing quarter. Siti had reported a profit after tax (PAT) for Q3-16 of Rs 14.66 crore (4.3 percent margin).

    Company speak in its earnings release

    Siti executive director & CEO, V D Wadhwa said, “Our persistent efforts have resulted in improved monetization in Phase-3 DAS areas as we continue to digitize our subscriber base and expand our footprint. At the same time, commencement of pre-paid billing will simplify our business model and improve collection efficiency.”

    “The expected Tariff Order will provide further impetus to Industry cash flows and aid in rapid growth. Although there were some near term headwinds in Broadband on account of demonetization, we remain confident of retaining the momentum in the coming quarters,” added Wadhwa.

    Siti says that its Broadband internet (Broadband) customer base grew to 2.13 lakh by Q3-17 exit. It has introduced new plans in Delhi and Haryana under both unlimited & limited data category catering to the ever increasing data usage needs of Broadband customers. The company expects to roll out high speed DOCSIS 2 and 3 Broadband Services in 5 locations by Q1-18.

    Siti claims that its continuous focus on HD services has started to yield results, with SITI HD+ customer base up 33 percent over Q2-17 to 1.2 lacs. To further give boost to HD adoption, the company has rolled out an SD to HD STB upgrade offer. The company says that there has been strong adoption being seen in Phase 3 & 4 areas. Siti is offers about 50 HD channels across a wide array of genres across geographies.

    Since the launch of SITI-DITTO OTT services, the company says its OTT customer base has grown strongly to 31,000 subscribers. Siti is aggressively exploring options with other OTT players to harness growth in this fast expanding space.

    Four local channels were launched in Q3-17 on the lines of My Siti channel launched in the earlier quarter.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Siti

    Total Expenditure increased 6.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 305.99 crore (102.5 percent of TIO) from Rs 287.67 crore (83.6 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter and increased 2.4 percent q-o-q from Rs 298.81 crore (103.4 percent of TIO).

    Employee Benefit Expense increased 33.8 percent to Rs 19.07 crore (6.4 percent of TIO) in the current quarter from Rs 14.26 (4.1 percent of TIO) crore in Q3-16 but reduced 7.9 percent from Rs 20.70 crore (7.2 percent of TIO).

    Carriage sharing, pay channel and related costs in Q3-17 declined 2.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 144.40 crore (48.4 percent of TIO) from Rs 148.66 crore (43. 2 percent of TIO) and was almost flat (increased 0.7 percent) q-o-q as compared to Rs 143.141 crore (49.6 percent of TIO).

    Finance costs in the current quarter increased 2.6 percent y-o-y to Rs 35.97 crore (12.1 percent of TIO) from Rs 35.05 crore (10.2 percent of TIO) and increased 28.5 percent q-o-q from Rs 28 crore (9.7 percent of TIO.

    Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

  • Analysis: Ortel Q3 numbers take a hit

    BENGALURU: Despite a 6.5 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) increase in Total Income from Operations (TIO), the Bibhu Prasad Rath led regional cable television and broadband internet player Ortel Communications Limited (Ortel) reported a net loss for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-17, current quarter) as compared to a profit after tax (PAT) reported for the corresponding quarter of the previous year (Q3-16). The company reported a net loss of Rs 2.78 crore in Q3-17 as compared to a profit after tax (PAT) Rs 3.89 crore in Q3-16 and a PAT of Rs 2.54 crore in the immediate trailing quarter Q2-17.

    The company has been hit by various factors, two of the four being demonitisation and increased competition in broadband internet services. Though Rath did not name the competition during a telecom with www.indiantelevision.com, the first moniker that comes to mind when one speaks of competition in broadband in India is Reliance Jio. The company’s Q3-17 numbers indicate that it has lost 8.4 percent or 6,679 broadband subscribers and its broadband ARPU had declined quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) to Rs 394 from Rs 406 in the immediate trailing quarter. Ortel closed Q3-17 with 72,503 subscribers as compared to 79,182 in Q2-17 and 67,709 subscribers at the end ofQ3-16.

    The third reason was the steep decline in Ortel’s infrastructure and leasing business. Another reason for the loss was a higher provision for bad debts (an expense head) in Q3-17 – this was Rs 8.33 crore in Q3-17 as compared to Rs 3.76 crore for the year ago quarter and Rs 6.61 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

    However, Rath informed that his company’s broadband subscriber base has already shown positive growth in January 2017 and that the improved broadband results for the final quarter should improve. Rath also revealed data consumption per user has gone up in Q3-17 by about 1 GB as compared to the previous quarter because of more packages being made available and lowering of data prices.

    Since it went public, Ortel has generally been reporting profits, more so over the past six-seven quarters, and TRath said that he expected the situation to normalise and the return of net profits within a couple of quarters.

    Company speak

    In the company’s earnings release, Rath said, “Our performance during the quarter was impacted due to a combination of factors which weakened some of our key operating parameters. In spite of this, we have demonstrated a healthy growth in revenues from both Cable TV and Broadband Business on a y-o-y basis both for Q3 and 9M-17. I am also happy to inform that our Business outside Odisha which turned
    EBIDTA positive last quarter has remained so during this quarter.

    Overall, we have demonstrated that a strong B2C focused last mile business model in our core market can be profitable and remain confident of replicating the same across newer markets. We continue to believe that this is a sustainable model as we can capture the entire revenue stream across the value chain.”

    Cable Subscription numbers (revenue generating units – RGUs’), ARPU

    During the current quarter, the total subscribers (both cable and television) stood at 738,963 subscribers. Net addition in Q3-17 stood at 13,256.

    Analog and Digital TV ARPU stood as Rs. 150 per month and Rs. 152 per month for Q3-17 and Q3-16 respectively. For the immediate trailing quarter, ARPU was Rs 153.

    Broadband numbers have been mentioned above.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Ortel

    Cable TV revenue in Q3-17 increased 25 percent y-o-y to Rs 40 crore from Rs 32 crore in Q3-16, but declined 4.8 percent q-o-q from Rs 42 crore.

    Cable TV Activation fees or connection fees in Q3-17 were more than 2.6 times at Rs 2.5 crore as compared to Rs 1 crore in Q3-16, but declined 40.8 percent q-o-q from Rs 4.2 crore.

    Cable TV subscription revenue in Q3-17 increased 41.1 percent y-o-y to Rs 30 crore from Rs 21.2 crore in Q3-16 and increased 1 percent q-o-q from Rs 29.7 crore. Channel carriage fees in the current quarter declined 23.2 percent y-o-y to Rs 7.5 crore from Rs 9.8 crore and declined 7.4 percent q-o-q from Rs 8.1 crore.

    Broadband services revenue in Q3-17 increased 5.7 percent to Rs 8.7 crore from Rs 8.3 crore in Q3-16 but declined 12.6 percent q-o-q from Rs 10 crore. Internet connection fees in Q3-17 declined 60.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 0.2 crore from Rs 0.6 crore and declined 50.8 percent q-o-q from Rs 0.5 crore. Internet subscription fees in Q3-17 increased 10.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 8.5 crore from Rs 7.7 crore but declined 10.6 percent q-o-q from Rs 9.5 crore.

    Total expenses (TE) in Q3-17 increased 19.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 47.48 crore as compared to Rs 39.78 crore, and increased 7.3 percent q-o-q from Rs 44.37 crore.

    Programming cost in Q3-17 were almost flat (increased 0.6) percent y-o-y at Rs. 9.18 crore as compared to Rs 9.13 crore and increased 6.3 percent from Rs 8.64 crore. Employee expenses during the current quarter stood 9.7 percent higher y-o-y at Rs. 6.32 crore as compared to Rs 5.76 crore, and increased 4.9 percent q-o-q from Rs 6.03 crore.

    Note: The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:
    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.
    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

  • Ortel 9M FY17: Cable TV rev grew by 35pc, broadband by 18pc, income by 12pc

    MUMBAI: Ortel Communications Limited (Ortel), one of the leading cable television and high speed broadband service providers focused in the Indian states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, announced its financial results for the quarter and nine-months ended 31 December, 2016.

    Ortel has built a two-way communication network for ‘Triple Play’ services (video, data and voice capabilities) with control and focus over the ‘Last Mile’ network. Ortel has pioneered the primary point cable business model in India by offering digital and analog cable television, broadband and VAS services. It covers an addressable market of close to five million homes.

    9M FY2017 performance overview compared with 9M FY2016

    •    Total Income increased to Rs. 1,590million, from Rs. 1,416 million, up by 12.3%
    •    EBITDA stood at Rs. 428 million compared to Rs. 519 million
    o    EBITDA margin came in at 26.9%
    •    Profit After Tax came in at Rs. 6 million compared to Rs. 92 million
    •    EPS amounted to Rs. 0.21per share Q3 FY2017 performance overview compared with Q3 FY2016
    •    Total Income increased to Rs. 518 millionfrom Rs. 502 million, up by 3.2%
    •    EBITDA stood at Rs. 118 millioncompared to Rs. 187 million
    o    EBITDA margin came in at 22.8%
    •    Net Loss stood at Rs. 28 million compared to Net Profit of Rs. 39 million
    •    EPS amounted to Rs. -0.92per share

    Commenting on the performance, Ortel Communications president & CEO Bibhu Prasad Rath said, “Our performance during the quarter was impacted due to a combination of factors which weakened some of our key operating parameters. In spite of this, we have demonstrated a healthy growth in revenues from both Cable TV and Broadband Business on a Y-o-Y basis both for Q3 and 9M FY17. I am also happy to inform that our Business outside Odisha which turned EBIDTA positive last quarter has remained so during this quarter,” he said.

    “Overall, we have demonstrated that a strong B2C focused last mile business model in our core market can be profitable and remain confident of replicating the same across newer markets. We continue to believe that this is a sustainable model as we can capture the entire revenue stream across the value chain,” Rath added.

    Ortel’s business is broadly divided into cable television services comprising of analog cable television services, digital cable television services including other value added services such as HD services, near video on demand (NVoD), gaming and local content. Other focused business segments include broadband services, leasing of fibre infrastructure and signal uplinking services.