ITV

Category: Multi System Operators

  • Ortel reports respectable maiden numbers for FY-2015 & Q4-2015

    Ortel reports respectable maiden numbers for FY-2015 & Q4-2015

    BENGALURU: At the time of its IPO earlier in March 2015, Ortel Communications had to withdraw a part of the promoter’s quota to prevent undersubscription. In its maiden financial numbers, Ortel reported fairly respectable numbers for FY-2015 as well as Q4-2015 and hence justified the faith that investors put in it. The company was listed on 19 March, 2015.

     

    For FY-2015, Ortel reported total income from operations (TIO) of Rs 154.79 crore for FY-2015, 20.5 per cent more than the Rs 128.50 crore in the preceding financial year. The company reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 5.65 crore in FY-2015 as compared to a loss of Rs 11.28 crore in FY-2014.

     

    Notes: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

    The numbers mentioned in this report are standalone.

     

    Cable subscription fees in FY-2015 grew four per cent to Rs 79 crore from Rs 75.7 crore in FY-2014, while internet subscription fees grew five per cent to Rs 27 crore from Rs 25.8 crore in FY-2014.

     

    In Q4-2015, the company’s TIO at Rs 44.91 crore was a healthy 34.4 per cent more than the Rs 33.41 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year and 13.9 per cent more than the Rs 39.44 crore in Q3-2015. The company reported a PAT of Rs 5.65 crore in Q4-2015, as compared to a loss of Rs 1.23 crore in Q4-2014 and more than 20 times (20.64 times) the PAT for Q3-2014 which was reported as Rs 0.27 crore.

     

    Revenue generating units (RGU)

     

    Two main segments add to the company’s numbers – Cable TV and Broadband, with a big chunk of numbers also being added by unallocated segments.

     

    Ortel reported total RGUs of 530,111 in FY-2015 as compared to 515,835 in FY-2014 and 486,255 in FY-2013. Of these, total cable RGUs in FY-2015 were 471,592, in FY-2014 they were 461,408, and in FY-2013 they were 435,628.

     

    Correspondingly, Broadband RGUs were 58,519 in FY-2015, 54,427 in FY-2014 and 50,627 in FY-2013.

     

     

    Cable TV segment

     

    In FY-2015, Cable TV segment reported 11.5 per cent growth in revenue from Rs 97.35 crores in the previous year to Rs 108.52 crore in FY-2015. Cable TV segment reported 12.1 per cent growth in operating profit to Rs 49.32 crore in FY-2015 from Rs 43.98 crore in FY-2014.

     

    Within this segment, besides subscription fees, cable connection fees grew 161 per cent to Rs 3.1 crore in FY-2015 from Rs 1.2 crore in FY-2014. Channel carriage fees grew 29 per cent in FY-2015 to Rs 26.4 crore from Rs 20.5 crore from FY-2014.

     

    Cable TV reported 9.7 per cent y-o-y growth in revenue to Rs 27.87 crore from Rs 25.41 crore in Q4-2014 and 2.2 per cent growth from Rs 27.27 crore in Q3-2015. The segment reported more than triple the operating profits in Q4-2015 at Rs 11.21 crore as compared to the Rs 3.61 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year and 8.3 per cent more than the Rs 10.36 crore in Q3-2015.

     

    Broadband segment

     

    Broadband segment revenue grew 5.2 per cent during the corresponding period to Rs 28.89 crore in FY-2015 from Rs 27.47 crore in FY-2014. Operating profit from Broadband segment grew a healthy 43.3 per cent to Rs 20.89 crore from Rs 14.57 crore in FY-2014. Within this segment, internet connection fees grew 12 per cent in the current year to Rs 1.9 crore from Rs 1.7 crore in FY-2014.

     

    Broadband segment reported revenue of Rs 7.44 crore in Q4-2015, which was 5.9 per cent more than the Rs 7.02 crore in Q4-2014 and 4.5 per cent more than the Rs 7.12 crore in Q3-2015. The segment reported almost eight times (7.61 times) operating result of Rs 7.95 crore in Q4-2015 as compared to the Rs 1.04 crore in Q4-2014 and 68.9 per cent more than the Rs4.71 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    Unallocated

     

    Revenue from unallocated segment grew almost four fold (3.73 times) to Rs 17.38 crore in the current year from Rs 3.67 crore in FY-2014. Operating profit credited to unallocated segment grew 3.7 per cent from Rs 3.07 crore in FY-2014 to Rs 3.19 crore in FY-2015.

     

    In Q4-2015, revenue from unallocated revenue grew almost tenfold (9.79 times) to Rs 9.61 crore from Rs 0.98 crore in Q4-2014 and 90.1 per cent more than the Rs 5.06 crore in Q3-2015. Unallocated operating profit grew 4.2 per cent in Q5-2015 to Rs 0.81 crore from Rs 0.78 crore in Q4-2014 and grew 2.8 per cent from Rs 0.79 crore in Q3-2015.

     

    Average revenue per user (ARPU)

     

    The company has reported a slight reduction in average revenue per user (ARPU) in all cases when compared to the previous year, except for digital cable. Analog TV ARPU in FY-2014 was 145 per month as compared to Rs 147 in FY-2014 and Rs 136 in FY-2013.

     

    Digital TV ARPU in FY-2015 was Rs 186 as compared to Rs 177 in FY-2014 and Rs 157 in FY-2013.

     

    Retail broadband ARPU stood at Rs 356 in FY-2015 as compared to Rs 373 in both FY-2014 and FY-2013. Corporate broadband ARPU had the highest fall. In FY-2015, corporate broadband ARPU was Rs 2851 as compared to Rs 3487 in FY-2014 and Rs 3998 in FY-2013. Data usage per month has gone up relatively, hence indicating lowering of charges for data – in FY-2015, it was 3143 MB, in FY-2014 it was 3126 MB and in FY-2013 it was 2666 MB.

     

    Ortel President and CEO Bibhu Prasad Rath said, “I am pleased to report that the company delivered healthy performance during the quarter and full year on the back of growth in Revenue Generating Units (RGUs) in Cable and Broadband businesses and robust contribution from Infrastructure Leasing segment. Our EBITDA margins stood strong at 37 per cent in FY-2015 as compared to 31 per cent in FY-2014. We anticipate further improvement in margins going forward as a result of deeper penetration in the Cable business along with our continued focus on the high-margin Broadband segment. Ortel Communications’ Direct-to-Consumer offering with full control over the ‘last mile’ network has enabled us to emerge as a dominant regional player in the cable TV and broadband business. With increasing penetration in our core and emerging markets along with the inorganic LCO (Local Cable Operator) buy out strategy, we believe we are well-positioned to achieve our immediate target of ~1 million RGUs by the end of FY-2017. I am also proud to share that we successfully concluded the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the company by raising Rs 108.6 crore during the quarter. The capital infusion will also enable us to accelerate growth and deliver much stronger financial and operational performance in the coming years.”

     

    Click here to read the investor presentation

  • Kolkata MSO GTPL-KCBPL applies for broadband license

    Kolkata MSO GTPL-KCBPL applies for broadband license

    KOLKATA: Kolkata-based multi-system operator (MSO) GTPL-KCBPL, which boasts of having more than five lakh set top boxes (STBs) in West Bengal, has applied for a broadband license to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB).

    Since the company is looking to launch broadband services in a big way, once the permission is granted, GTPL-KCBPL is also likely to create awareness through a multi-media campaign. “We shall inform prospective customers through various activities. We will also organize BTL activities and let people know through our distribution network,” said GTPL- KCBPL managing director Bijoy Kumar Agarwal.

    “We are shortly going to roll out the broadband service in Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) to begin with, which will create more opportunities for our business partners and at the same time with state-of-the-art technologies, we will be bringing the best of services. In a digital addressable era, broadband and VAS (value added services) will become important differentiated offerings. We are upbeat about our penetration and growth in eastern region as our pack will be a value addition for the customers,” he said.

    Agarwal also hinted that broadband will be another major revenue source as it has direct control over the customers.

    An Ethernet cable carries the broadband signals between modem, router, computer, and other wired Internet-capable devices.

    Cable analyst Namit Dave said that broadband and VAS, which suppressed revenue streams so far, will get a major boost as the country advances towards the complete era of digitisation of cable TV. MSOs are also rolling out packages in vast scale.

    Another analyst added that broadband is a lucrative business now with less investment, which in turn promises higher revenue.

    In 2005, a group of 160 cable operators in a unique manner turned themselves into shareholders and made KCBPL a successful MSO in KMA. While in 2010, KCBPL entered into a joint venture with GTPL, which has enabled this new entity to gain strong foothold in the state of West Bengal.

    When asked about the company’s technology partners, Agarwal said that Cisco, Skyworth, Nagravision, Newland and Magnaquest among others are in touch with the company on a regular basis so that it can update and offer latent technology to its customers.

    It may be recalled that Indiantelevision.com recently reported that GTPL-KCBPL, which was offering around 22 High Definition (HD) channels until, has now increased the offering to 32 channels.

    “After the rollout of digitization in KMA in the first and second phase of the digitization drive, we believe that our partners and viewers stand to benefit from more opportunities, products and value with digitization,” Agarwal concluded.

  • Four MSOs levied penalty for non-payment of entertainment tax

    Four MSOs levied penalty for non-payment of entertainment tax

    NEW DELHI: Even as Siti Cable ‘vehemently’ denied any allegation of tax evasion as alleged by the Delhi Government, similar notices were issued to three other major multi-system operators (MSOs) for paying Rs 243.77 crore as dues, due to a default in payment of entertainment tax.

     

    While there was no official word from either IndusInd Media and Communications or Hathway Cable and Datacom, a source from Den Networks informed Indiantelevision.com that the action by the Delhi Government was a violation of a commitment given by it to the Delhi High Court that no coercive action would be taken during the pendency of a case challenging the levy of entertainment tax and vires of the Delhi Entertainment and Betting Tax Act 1996.

     

    The source also added that an appropriate reply would be given both to the Delhi Government and in the High Court, but said no notice had been received so far and the MSO had learnt about it only from a newspaper report.

     

    Siti Cable, which had received a similar notice for Rs 33.12 crore, had said in an official statement, that it had been depositing the entertainment tax regularly on the basis of collections. The MSO had “vehemently’ denied the allegation of tax evasion.

     

    The matter is pending vide its Writ Petition of 2014, Siti Cable had earlier said.

     

    According to reports, the charges levied on the four MSOs include a 100 per cent penalty and an interest on dues.

     

    The levy is for 2013-14 and 2014-15. Den Networks has to pay just over Rs 88.81 crore, while Hathway Cable and Datacom need to pay around Rs 59 crore, IndusInd Media and Communications has been asked to pay just under Rs 52 crore for two years.

     

    While noting that these MSOs need to file their tax every month, a Delhi Government source said that Den, Hathway and IndudsInd had between them around 2.6 million subscribers in the capital. 

  • Siti Cable denies fraud as Delhi govt levies penalty for entertainment tax evasion

    Siti Cable denies fraud as Delhi govt levies penalty for entertainment tax evasion

    NEW DELHI: While ‘vehemently’ denying any allegation of tax evasion, multi system operator (MSO) Siti Cable late on Tuesday evening said that in any case the matter was sub judice because it had challenged the levy of entertainment tax and vires of the Delhi Entertainment and Betting Tax Act 1996 in the Delhi High Court.

     

    Noting that it had been depositing the entertainment tax regularly on the basis of collections, Siti Cable also said in an official statement that “the company had not yet received any official communication/ notice about any such order being passed by the Entertainment Tax Department, Government of Delhi.”

     

    The matter is pending vide its Writ Petition of 2014, Siti Cable said. 

     

    The statement said, “The company has come to know from public sources regarding the alleged ex-parte order issued by the Delhi Government, directing Siti Cable Network Ltd. to deposit Rs 33.12 crore as outstanding entertainment tax including interest and penalty. In this context, the company vehemently denies the allegation of tax evasion and would like to clarify that it has been depositing the entertainment tax regularly on the basis of collections. It has already challenged the vires of the Delhi Entertainment and Betting Tax Act, 1996 vide its Writ Petition being No. 427 of 2014, which is subjudice before the Hon’ble Delhi High Court.”

     

    Earlier in the day, sources in the Delhi government revealed that Siti Cable Network, an Essel Group Company, with Subhash Chandra as its chairman of board of directors and CEO, had been directed to deposit Rs 33.12 crore as its outstanding entertainment tax for two years along with interest and penalty within 15 days, by 22 April.

     

    Sources said that the MSO had defaulted in payment of entertainment tax since April 2013.

     

    The company was learnt to have committed a serious illegal act of tax evasion by duping the government despite having collected the amount in the name of taxes from its innocent customers. 

     

    This company has been collecting entertainment tax from 5,36,616 customers at the rate of Rs 20 per month through local cable operators.

     

    In the financial year, 2013-14, Siti Cable was found to have collected around Rs 13 crore as entertainment tax from its customers but only deposited Rs 4.63 crore as entertainment tax for this financial year. The allegation therefore was that it had defaulted by not depositing the remaining Rs 8.32 crore, which should have been deposited on a monthly basis in the government exchequer.

     

    Taking cognizance of the fraud, the Delhi government levied a 100 per cent penalty of Rs 8.32 crore and an interest of Rs 3.06 crore under the relevant provisions of the Delhi Entertainments and Betting Tax Act 1996, sources said.

     

    The complete assessment including additional tax, penalty and interest for the financial year 2013-14 is Rs 19.71 crore.

     

    The Delhi Government alleged that the MSO had defaulted during the next financial year of 2014-15 as well. The government has assessed the tax, interest and penalty for 2014-15 at Rs 13.41 crore.

  • Calcutta HC extends Digicable Comm’s interim order till case disposal

    Calcutta HC extends Digicable Comm’s interim order till case disposal

    KOLKATA: Granting relief to Digicable Comm, the Calcutta High Court has extended the interim order till the disposal of the case.

     

    Earlier too, the Calcutta High Court had put the stay order on the cancellation of the registration of Kolkata-based multi-system operator (MSO) till 6 April, 2015, citing that “Digicable Comm, having been in business for quite some time and would suffer irreparable loss and injury, unless appropriate ad-interim protection is granted to them.”

     

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, DigiCableComm Services VP – operations & technology Lokesh Agarwal said, “Our matter was listed in the Hon’ble High Court under Hon’ble Justice I.P. Mukerji, with regard to DigiCable Comm DAS license for Kolkata and Howrah. Interim order already granted is extended till the disposal of the case.”

     

    It should be noted that in July 2014, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had cancelled the registration of Digicable Comm. Services.

     

    Digicable Comm, a joint venture (JV) between Digicable (51 per cent) and Kolkata-headquartered Multicar Group (49 per cent) was formed in the year 2009, to gain the foothold in the West Bengal market.

     

    Digicable Comm was always hopeful that after appealing to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and moving to the High Court, the decision would be in favour of the MSO. “We are happy to get the stay order extended from the High Court. Slowly we will expand in the region and are consolidating,” added Agarwal.

     

    MHA had cancelled the company’s permanent registration on 18 July, 2014 due to denial of security clearance.

     

    “Now we will do our best and expand in West Bengal,” Agarwal signed off.

     

  • South Africa scraps digitization plans; sticks to analogue signal

    South Africa scraps digitization plans; sticks to analogue signal

    NEW DELHI: The South African government has decided to abandon the digital migration project at a time when the whole world is going digital.

     

    Expectedly, this has taken broadcasters unawares as they had been looking forward to a mid-year switch-off of analogue signals. Even the media has described the decision as shocking. 

     

    Communications Minister Faith Muthambi said in an official statement, “Seeing that none of our neighbouring countries has switched over to digital television, we have taken a decision to ignore the 17 June, 2015 ITU deadline and remain with analogue television for the foreseeable future. The government will save billions that can be used in better ways, like funding public broadcaster South Africa Broadcasting Corporation.”

     

    This will mean that the cash-strapped South African government will not have to subsidise set-top boxes for the nation’s poorest citizens. Muthambi added, “This solves the debate – there won’t be any set-top boxes and so there is no need for encryption.” 

     

    Nagra Kudelski had won the contract to encrypt and protect transmissions for Sentech, the official transmission company.

  • 150 MSOs get 10 year licence under DAS; 27 denied permission

    150 MSOs get 10 year licence under DAS; 27 denied permission

    NEW DELHI: Another 11 multi-system operators (MSOs) all over the country have been granted permanent registration for 10 years to operate the digital addressable system (DAS) during the last two months, thus bringing the total to 153 as compared to 142 by December-end.

     

    Most of these MSOs had been given provisional permission earlier.    

       

    The MSOs who have received permission as on 5 March after the last list released of 7 January are:

     

    – Cossco Communications Limited of Shyamnagar for West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura under Phase – I, II, III & IV;

     

    – Netset Media Services of Jamnagar for the state of Gujarat; Satlinks of Pallakad for the state of Kerala; 

     

    – Vishwam Cable Network of Porbandar and Suraj Cable Network of Rajkot for Phase II, III and IV in Gujarat; 

     

    – Kaizen Digital Services for Karnataka in Phase – II, III and IV except Mysore city; 

     

    – Utkal Cable Vision of Orissa for the third and fourth phases pan India; 

     

    – SS Cable Network of Balaghat for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra,Odhisha & Jharkhand under Phase – I,II,III & IV; 

     

    – Chelikam Networks of Tirupati for Phase III & Phase IV of Chittur, Kadapa, Ananthpur and Nellore Districts of Andhra Pradesh; 

     

    – DDC CATV Network of Delhi for pan India in all phases; and

     

    – Mohit Sai Cable Network of Vizayanagram for Vishakapatanam, Vizayanagaram and Srikakulam District in III and IV phase in the state of Andhra Pradesh.  

     

    The list of MSOs, who have been refused permission as on 28 February, has gone up to 27 from 26 with one more MSO being denied permission. Some of those in the cancelled list applied as early as March 2013.

     

    MSO sources, however, said that the approved list was in addition to the 140 whose names had been approved earlier in March last year.

     

    The Ministry website mib.nic.in has listed the areas and the date from which the MSOs have been given permission.

     

  • US Federal Trade Commission sues DirectTV for cheating consumers

    US Federal Trade Commission sues DirectTV for cheating consumers

     NEW DELHI: The broadcasting giant DirecTV is facing a lawsuit from American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that the pay TV operator has deliberately misled millions of subscribers about the costs of viewing its programme line up.

     

    The action has started at a Federal Court in San Francisco.

     

    The FTC states that DirecTV “deceptively advertised” an apparent one-year subscription contract but failed to tell consumers that viewers would be committing to a two-year contract.

     

    The FTC says a large portion of DirecTV’s subscribers could be affected. Moreover, the second year was going to be much more expensive for viewers, and that hefty cancellation charges would be levied if subscribers cancelled.

     

    FTC Consumer Protection Bureau head Jessica Rich said, “We require businesses to be truthful and to give consumers the information they need to make informed choices about goods and services. Companies cannot hide important information from consumers to trick them into buying goods and services — and that’s what we allege DirecTV did.”

     

    DirecTV denies any deception, saying that it has worked hard to make the ordering process as clear as possible, and that either in writing or via a web-based order or verbally if ordered over the phone, all its terms and conditions are explained.

  • DEN Networks hikes foreign investment limit to 74 per cent

    DEN Networks hikes foreign investment limit to 74 per cent

    MUMBAI: Close on the heels of multi system operator (MSO)  Hathway Cable and Datacom’s decision to increase the foreign investment limit in its company, DEN Networks has now followed suit.

     

    It may be recalled that in January this year Hathway decided to increase the foreign investment limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent. 

     

    DEN Networks, which is currently building its broadband base and also working towards digitisation in phase III and IV, is looking at attracting overseas capital into the company.

     

    DEN Networks has got the approval from the board of directors to increase the foreign investment limit in the company by Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) and Foreign Portfolio Investors etc. from the current 49 per cent to 74 per cent. This, subject to approval of the shareholders, Foreign Investment Promotion Board of India, Ministry of Finance (FIPB) among others.

     

    In an announcement to the BSE, DEN Networks said, “The board of directors of the company has approved through circulation, increase in foreign investment limit in the company by Foreign Institutional Investors, Foreign Portfolio Investors etc., under the Portfolio Investment Scheme in accordance with Schedules 2 and 2A of Foreign Exchange Management Act (Transfer or Issue of Security by a person Resident Outside India) Regulations, 2000 (FEMA 20) from existing 49 per cent to 74 per cent of the issued and fully paid-up share capital of the company, subject to the approval of the Shareholders, Foreign Investment Promotion Board of India, Ministry of Finance (FIPB) and all other applicable acts, laws, rules, regulations, circulars, directions, notifications, press notes guidelines and statutory approvals, if any.”

    The approval of shareholders for aforesaid resolution will be taken through Postal Ballot in accordance with section 110 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 22 of the Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014, the release further added.

  • Siti Cable completes QIP; allots shares to QIBs

    Siti Cable completes QIP; allots shares to QIBs

    MUMBAI: Confidence, it appears is returning to select cable TV counters, the slow pace of digitization despite.

     

    The Essel Group owned national MSO Siti Cable Network’s long-standing effort to raise funds through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) successfully closed today.

    The company informed the Bombay stock exchange (BSE) late in the evening that its QIP Committee had allotted 6,31,74,540 shares on receipt of  Rs 221.11 crore from a group of qualified institutional bodies (QIBs) .

    The QIP issue for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 250 crore commenced on 27 February 2015 and closed on 4 March. The issue was made a premium of Rs 34 per Rs 1 share which was a discount of Rs 1.41 on the floor price.

    The Siti Cable counter had spurted to a 52 week high of Rs 38.50 on 4 March.

     

    Siti Cable informed the BSE that the QIBs who were allotted shares through the current QIP  include: Polus Global Fund (1,44,28570 shares); Orange Investments Ltd (34,28,570 shares); HDFC Trustee Co Ltd – HDFC Equity Fund (2,65,33,000 shares) ; HDFC Trustee Co Ltd – HDFC Core and Satellite Fund (15,16,000 shares); HDFC Trustee Co Ltd – HDFC India Tax Saver Fund (35,38,270 shares); Macquarie Asian Markets Emerging (15,00,000 shares); Reliance Capital Trustee Co (42,85,710 shares); Copthall Mauritius Investments (52,96,280 shares); and Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific (26,48,140 shares).