Category: Broadband

NASSCOM STATEMENT ON NATIONAL IPR POLICY

NASSCOM welcomes the National IPR Policy and applauds it for encompassing the entire value chain spanning across IPR Awareness, Generation, Legislative Framework, Administration, Commercialization, Enforcement and Adjudication, Human Capital, comprehensively covering all aspects of the domain.

The Policy has reformed the current administration by making Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion the nodal point coordinate and guide future development of IPRs in India while responsibility for actual implementation of the plans of action will remain with the Ministries/ Departments concerned in their assigned sphere of work. This single umbrella approach will help leverage linkages between various IP offices. The proposed Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) to be constituted under the aegis of DIPP, would be an important connection with the inventors and innovators.

NASSCOM had in its interaction with the think tank had highlighted difficulties that companies face in monetizing intangibles like IPR. The Policy has captured the concerns suitably and their proposal to create a ‘simple loan guarantee scheme to encourage start-ups’ based on IPRs as mortgage-able assets; financial support and securitization of IP rights for commercialization by enabling valuation of IP rights as intangible assets through of appropriate methodologies and guidelines, and enabling legislative, administrative and market framework are in the right direction. Further, specific references to promoting use of OSS, as well as support for IPR generation for ICT technologies, including those relating to cyber security for India are welcome.

As product life cycles shrink, timeliness of grant of IPR is critical for its relevance. We welcome the Policies focus on modernization of offices, adoption of service orientation by improving the quality of service, search facilities and information made available to inventors and other stakeholders. Administration and enforcement of IP rights requires time bound processes. The Policy has rightly identified it as a priority area in addition to initiatives outlined for capacity building at various levels including adjudication, enforcement and protection. The IT industry is committed to partner with the DIPP in the modernization efforts. Further, Periodic reviews and updates of IP related rules, guidelines, procedures will ensure an effective IPR regime and NASSCOM is committed to work closely with the DIPP as the policy is implemented to support an innovation led Industry in India.

May 13, 2016
FY-2016: Ortel PAT doubles

BENGALURU: The Bibhu Prasad Rath led regional cable television and broadband internet player Ortel Communications Limited (Ortel) reported more than double profit after tax (PAT) for the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY-2016, current year). Ortel reported 2.1 times the PAT in FY-2016 at Rs 11.93 crore (6.4 per cent margin) as compared to Rs 5.60 crore (3.6 per cent margin) in the previous year.

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’s Total Income from Operations (TIO) increased 21.3 per cent in the current year to Rs 187.70 crore as compared to Rs 154.79 crore in FY-2015.

For the quarter ended 31 March 2016 (Q4-2016, current quarter), Ortel’s PAT was less than half (declined 51.1 per cent) year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 2.76 crore (5.2 per cent margin) as compared to Rs 5.65 crore (12.6 per cent margin) and was 29 per cent lower quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) as compared to Rs 3.89 crore (8.1 per cent margin).

TIO in the current quarter increased 18.6 per cent YoY to Rs 53.28 crore as compared to Rs 44.91 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year and was 10.9 per cent higher than the Rs 48.03 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

Ortel provides services in the Indian states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

Revenue breakup

Cable TV revenue in FY-2016 increased 20.3 per cent to Rs 130.5 crore from Rs 108.5 crore in the previous year. In Q4-2016, cable TV revenue grew 40.5 per cent YoY to Rs 39.1 crore from Rs 27.9 crore.

Cable TV Activation fees or connection fees in FY-2016 were 2.7 times at Rs 8.4 crore as compared to Rs 3.1 crore in the previous year. Cable TV subscription revenue in FY-2016 increased 9.6 per cent to Rs 86.6 crore from Rs 79 crore in the previous year. Channel carriage fees in the current year increased 34.9 per cent to Rs 35.6 crore from Rs 26.4 crore in FY-2015 Cale TV activation fee in the current quarter multiplied 7.5 times to Rs 6 crore from Rs 0.8 crore in Q4-2015.

Cable subscription revenue in Q4-2016 increased 26.5 per cent to Rs 24.8 crore from Rs 19.6 crore in Q4-2015. Channel carriage charge in Q4-2016 increased 11.2 per cent to Rs 8.3 crore from Rs 7.4 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter.

Broadband services revenue in FY-2016 increased 13.9 per cent to Rs 32.9 crore from Rs 28.9 crore in FY-2015. Internet connection fees in the current year increased 35 per cent to Rs 2.6 crore from Rs 1.9 crore in FY-2015. Internet subscription fees in FY-2016 increased 12.4 per cent to Rs 30.3 crore from Rs 20.7 crore in the previous year.

Broadband services revenue in Q4-2016 increased 20.3 per cent to Rs 8.9 crore from Rs 7.4 crore in Q4-2015. Internet fees in Q4-2016 increased 36.1 per cent to Rs 0.7 crore from Rs 0.5 crore. Internet subscription fee in Q4-2016 increased 19.2 per cent to Rs 8 crore from Rs 7.2 crore in Q4-2015.

Ortel’s revenue from its infrastructure leasing segment in FY-2016 increased 47 per cent to Rs 21.3 crore from Rs14.5 crore in FY-2015. Revenue from this segment in the current quarter declined to less than half to Rs 4.4 crore from Rs 8.9 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter.

On a geographical basis, in the current year, revenue from Ortel’c core market – Odisha increased 15.9 per cent to Rs 167.6 crore from Rs 144.6 crore in the previous year. Revenue from Odisha in Q4-2016 increased 6.4 per cent to Rs 44.6 crore from Rs 41.8 crore in Q4-015. EBIDTA from the Odisha region in FY-2016 increased 15.7 per cent to Rs 77.9 crore from Rs 6.73 crore in the previous year. EBIDTA in Q4-2016 from the Odisha region reduced 8.3 per cent to Rs 20.1 per cent from Rs 21.9 crore in Q4-2015.

Revenue from Ortel’s Emerging Markets (Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and West Bengal) increased 60.1 per cent to Rs 19 crore in FY-2016 from Rs 11.9 crore in FY-2015. Emerging markets reported higher negative EBIDTA in FY-2016 at Rs 5.7 crore as compared to a negative EIDTA of Rs 4.1 per cent in the previous year. Revenue from emerging markets in Q4-2016 more than tripled (by 3.5 times) to Rs 8.4 crore from Rs 2.4 crore in Q4-2015. Emerging markets reported lower negative EBIDA of Rs 0.7 crore as compared to negative EBIDTA of Rs 0.9 crore in Q4-2015.

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

During the year, the total RGU additions (both cable and television) stood at 171,081 subscribers, taking the total RGUSs to 701,192. Net addition in Q4-2016 stood at 74,717 subscribers. Ortel says that it has 86,797 RGUs in the pipeline – to be integrated into the company’s last mile network in the coming months. The company says that about 65 per cent of the new RGUs were added in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh, while close to 70 per cent of the new signings were reported from these states.

Ortel says that it has seeded 107,175 Set Top Boxes (STB) during the year, thereby improving the digital penetration ratio to 37.1 per cent from 22.7 per cent in FY-2015. “We have sufficient STBs’ in stock to fully seed all our DAS phase III subscribers,” revealed Rath during a call with www.indiantelevision.com. He added that most of Ortel subscribers, including the new ones that the company was looking at on the way to 1 million (10 lakh) subscriber base were based in DAS phase III areas. “The sunset date for DAS phase IV is still 8 months away,” he added.

ARPU for subscribers converted from analogue to digital witnessed improvement in Q4–2016. Analog and Digital ARPU stood as Rs. 141 per month and Rs. 178 per month respectively.

Ortel reported a net addition of 13,963 internet subscribers in FY-2016 compared to 4,092 subscribers in FY-2015; Total Broadband RGUs were 72,482. The company expects significant growth in broadband subscribers in FY-2017 on the back of new network rollout, a strong team, solid back-end operations, attractive broadband packages and various other value-added services and initiatives.

Broadband ARPU in FY-2016 increased to Rs 398 from Rs 394 in FY-2015. Broadband ARPU in Q4-2016 increased to Rs 398 from Rs 396. Data usage in FY-2016 increased to 3,915 MB from 3,126 MB in the previous year.

Let us look at the other numbers reported by Ortel in brief

Total expenditure in the current stood at Rs. 126 crore, higher by 24 per cent as compared to FY-2015. Programming cost in FY-2016 came in higher at Rs. 37.5 crore – in-line with the RGU growth. Employee expenses during the current year stood higher at Rs. 22.5 crore. EBITDA in FY-2016 (including other income) came in at Rs. 70.3 crore, representing an increase of 18 per cent over FY-2015.

Company speak

Ortel President and CEO Rath said, “Ortel Communications reported healthy financial and operational performance during the year led by robust RGU additions of 1.71 lakh subscribers. Growth in our core businesses have primarily enabled us to double our PAT to Rs. 119 million in FY16. I am also pleased to state that 65 per cent of new RGUs have come from Non-Odisha states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. This reinforces our vision that the ‘last mile’ model can be successfully implemented in many states across India apart from our home market of Odisha.”

Elaborating on the guidance numbers indicated by him earlier for FY-2017, Rath explained, “Overall, we have ended the year on a strong note and are geared up to build on this momentum in the coming year. We remain focused towards achieving our stated target of 1 million subscribers by March 2017, which should make us the largest ‘last mile’ player in the country. We believe this model will make us one of the first few players in the sector to create sustainable value for all our stakeholders.”

April 30, 2016
FY-2016: Ortel PAT doubles

BENGALURU: The Bibhu Prasad Rath led regional cable television and broadband internet player Ortel Communications Limited (Ortel) reported more than double profit after tax (PAT) for the year ended 31 March 2016 (FY-2016, current year). Ortel reported 2.1 times the PAT in FY-2016 at Rs 11.93 crore (6.4 per cent margin) as compared to Rs 5.60 crore (3.6 per cent margin) in the previous year.

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’s Total Income from Operations (TIO) increased 21.3 per cent in the current year to Rs 187.70 crore as compared to Rs 154.79 crore in FY-2015.

For the quarter ended 31 March 2016 (Q4-2016, current quarter), Ortel’s PAT was less than half (declined 51.1 per cent) year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 2.76 crore (5.2 per cent margin) as compared to Rs 5.65 crore (12.6 per cent margin) and was 29 per cent lower quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) as compared to Rs 3.89 crore (8.1 per cent margin).

TIO in the current quarter increased 18.6 per cent YoY to Rs 53.28 crore as compared to Rs 44.91 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year and was 10.9 per cent higher than the Rs 48.03 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

Ortel provides services in the Indian states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

Revenue breakup

Cable TV revenue in FY-2016 increased 20.3 per cent to Rs 130.5 crore from Rs 108.5 crore in the previous year. In Q4-2016, cable TV revenue grew 40.5 per cent YoY to Rs 39.1 crore from Rs 27.9 crore.

Cable TV Activation fees or connection fees in FY-2016 were 2.7 times at Rs 8.4 crore as compared to Rs 3.1 crore in the previous year. Cable TV subscription revenue in FY-2016 increased 9.6 per cent to Rs 86.6 crore from Rs 79 crore in the previous year. Channel carriage fees in the current year increased 34.9 per cent to Rs 35.6 crore from Rs 26.4 crore in FY-2015 Cale TV activation fee in the current quarter multiplied 7.5 times to Rs 6 crore from Rs 0.8 crore in Q4-2015.

Cable subscription revenue in Q4-2016 increased 26.5 per cent to Rs 24.8 crore from Rs 19.6 crore in Q4-2015. Channel carriage charge in Q4-2016 increased 11.2 per cent to Rs 8.3 crore from Rs 7.4 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter.

Broadband services revenue in FY-2016 increased 13.9 per cent to Rs 32.9 crore from Rs 28.9 crore in FY-2015. Internet connection fees in the current year increased 35 per cent to Rs 2.6 crore from Rs 1.9 crore in FY-2015. Internet subscription fees in FY-2016 increased 12.4 per cent to Rs 30.3 crore from Rs 20.7 crore in the previous year.

Broadband services revenue in Q4-2016 increased 20.3 per cent to Rs 8.9 crore from Rs 7.4 crore in Q4-2015. Internet fees in Q4-2016 increased 36.1 per cent to Rs 0.7 crore from Rs 0.5 crore. Internet subscription fee in Q4-2016 increased 19.2 per cent to Rs 8 crore from Rs 7.2 crore in Q4-2015.

Ortel’s revenue from its infrastructure leasing segment in FY-2016 increased 47 per cent to Rs 21.3 crore from Rs14.5 crore in FY-2015. Revenue from this segment in the current quarter declined to less than half to Rs 4.4 crore from Rs 8.9 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter.

On a geographical basis, in the current year, revenue from Ortel’c core market – Odisha increased 15.9 per cent to Rs 167.6 crore from Rs 144.6 crore in the previous year. Revenue from Odisha in Q4-2016 increased 6.4 per cent to Rs 44.6 crore from Rs 41.8 crore in Q4-015. EBIDTA from the Odisha region in FY-2016 increased 15.7 per cent to Rs 77.9 crore from Rs 6.73 crore in the previous year. EBIDTA in Q4-2016 from the Odisha region reduced 8.3 per cent to Rs 20.1 per cent from Rs 21.9 crore in Q4-2015.

Revenue from Ortel’s Emerging Markets (Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and West Bengal) increased 60.1 per cent to Rs 19 crore in FY-2016 from Rs 11.9 crore in FY-2015. Emerging markets reported higher negative EBIDTA in FY-2016 at Rs 5.7 crore as compared to a negative EIDTA of Rs 4.1 per cent in the previous year. Revenue from emerging markets in Q4-2016 more than tripled (by 3.5 times) to Rs 8.4 crore from Rs 2.4 crore in Q4-2015. Emerging markets reported lower negative EBIDA of Rs 0.7 crore as compared to negative EBIDTA of Rs 0.9 crore in Q4-2015.

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

During the year, the total RGU additions (both cable and television) stood at 171,081 subscribers, taking the total RGUSs to 701,192. Net addition in Q4-2016 stood at 74,717 subscribers. Ortel says that it has 86,797 RGUs in the pipeline – to be integrated into the company’s last mile network in the coming months. The company says that about 65 per cent of the new RGUs were added in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh, while close to 70 per cent of the new signings were reported from these states.

Ortel says that it has seeded 107,175 Set Top Boxes (STB) during the year, thereby improving the digital penetration ratio to 37.1 per cent from 22.7 per cent in FY-2015. “We have sufficient STBs’ in stock to fully seed all our DAS phase III subscribers,” revealed Rath during a call with www.indiantelevision.com. He added that most of Ortel subscribers, including the new ones that the company was looking at on the way to 1 million (10 lakh) subscriber base were based in DAS phase III areas. “The sunset date for DAS phase IV is still 8 months away,” he added.

ARPU for subscribers converted from analogue to digital witnessed improvement in Q4–2016. Analog and Digital ARPU stood as Rs. 141 per month and Rs. 178 per month respectively.

Ortel reported a net addition of 13,963 internet subscribers in FY-2016 compared to 4,092 subscribers in FY-2015; Total Broadband RGUs were 72,482. The company expects significant growth in broadband subscribers in FY-2017 on the back of new network rollout, a strong team, solid back-end operations, attractive broadband packages and various other value-added services and initiatives.

Broadband ARPU in FY-2016 increased to Rs 398 from Rs 394 in FY-2015. Broadband ARPU in Q4-2016 increased to Rs 398 from Rs 396. Data usage in FY-2016 increased to 3,915 MB from 3,126 MB in the previous year.

Let us look at the other numbers reported by Ortel in brief

Total expenditure in the current stood at Rs. 126 crore, higher by 24 per cent as compared to FY-2015. Programming cost in FY-2016 came in higher at Rs. 37.5 crore – in-line with the RGU growth. Employee expenses during the current year stood higher at Rs. 22.5 crore. EBITDA in FY-2016 (including other income) came in at Rs. 70.3 crore, representing an increase of 18 per cent over FY-2015.

Company speak

Ortel President and CEO Rath said, “Ortel Communications reported healthy financial and operational performance during the year led by robust RGU additions of 1.71 lakh subscribers. Growth in our core businesses have primarily enabled us to double our PAT to Rs. 119 million in FY16. I am also pleased to state that 65 per cent of new RGUs have come from Non-Odisha states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. This reinforces our vision that the ‘last mile’ model can be successfully implemented in many states across India apart from our home market of Odisha.”

Elaborating on the guidance numbers indicated by him earlier for FY-2017, Rath explained, “Overall, we have ended the year on a strong note and are geared up to build on this momentum in the coming year. We remain focused towards achieving our stated target of 1 million subscribers by March 2017, which should make us the largest ‘last mile’ player in the country. We believe this model will make us one of the first few players in the sector to create sustainable value for all our stakeholders.”

April 30, 2016
ACT leads in wired broadband subscriber additions in 2016

BENGALURU: Atria Convergence Technologies Private Limited (ACT, ACT Broadband) lead in net wired broadband subscriber additions in calendar year 2016 with 50,000 subscribers added during the first two months of calendar year 2016 (CY-2016). As per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), ACT’s broadband subscriber base as on 29 February 2016 (Feb-16) was 9.1 lakh as compared to the 8.6 lakh subscribers as on 31 December 2015 (Dec-15).

Until 30 October 2015 (Oct-15), ACT Broadband was leading in wireline broadband internet subscriber additions in India during calendar year 2015. Both ACT and Bharti Airtel had added 230,000 subscribers in CY-2015 until Nov-15. In December 2015 numbers released by TRAI indicated that as on 31 December 2015 (Dec-15), Bharti Airtel had added 2.6 lakh subscribers (subject to a granularity of 10,000) as compared to the 2.5 lakh subscribers added by ACT in the period between 31 December 2014 (hence 1 January 2015, Dec-14) and Dec-15. In terms of wireline internet subscription numbers, Airtel had 16.7 lakh subscribers while ACT had 8.6 lakh subscribers at the end of CY-2015.

As per TRAI data, the top five players in India in the wireline broadband internet space in pecking order are the public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel), public sector Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Atria Convergence Technologies Private Limited (ACT, ACT Broadband) and You Broadband (You BB). Among these 5, only BSNL and Airtel could be termed national players at present. BSNL, Airtel and MTNL also provide wireline and mobile services while Airtel also has a direct to home (DTH) segment. ACT started off as an MSO with operations concentrated in a few major cities and towns located mainly in South India. It started internet services (ACT Broadband) a little later and has grown its broadband internet subscriber base over time, to the extent that it is quite likely the biggest private wireline broadband player in South India. You BB offers broadband operations in a few cities in Maharashtra, Gujarat the NCR region Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

While the public sector players BSNL and MTNL have been losing subscribers and/or market share, the three private players have been growing on both these parameters as Fig 1 below indicates. In CY-2016, until Feb-16, both BSNL and MTNL have lost 10,000 wired broadband subscribers each, while You BB has added 10,000 subscribers. BSNL’s wired broadband subscriber base as on 29 February 2016 was 99.1 lakh, while MTNL had 11.1 lakh subscribers. You BB had 5.2 lakh subscribers for Feb-15.

Note: (1) 100,00,000 = 100 Lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

(2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.47 million (4.7 lakh) subscribers for You BB for July-2015 would be granular to the nearest 10,000. While percentages have been mentioned up to two decimal places, the accuracy may vary, depending upon the exact number.

(3) Industry sources say that TRAI numbers in the case of ACT for May-2015 are incorrect at 0.66 million and the correct number would be 0.693 million. This paper considers the number as 6.93 lakh or 0.693 million.

(4) MSOs’ have a number of subsidiaries and alliances, hence broadband numbers are split as applicable. The consolidated subscription numbers of these entities could be larger. Hathway is a case in point.

At the same time, the subscriber numbers share of the top five wired broadband players in the country has reduced from 88.45 percent from Dec-14 to 84.54 percent as on Feb-16. During the same period the all India wireline internet subscriber base has grown 9.33 per cent from 153.2 lakh to 167.5 lakh. The combined numbers of the top five players have increased by less than half of that in percentage terms – by 4.5 per cent from 136.3 lakh to 141.6 lakh. The top five players have added 5.3 lakh subscribers during these 14 months, with ACT and Bharti Airtel contributing to the major bulk of the growth. Please refer to Fig 2 below.

MSOs’ in India have started providing internet services on the back of their cable networks using Docsis technology. In general, they have started reporting double digit YoY increase in internet subscribers and revenue. Three of the major MSOs and a regional MSO – Hathway, Siti Cable, Den Networks, Ortel Communications whose results are available in the public domain for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-2016 current quarter) have been showing steady growth in their broadband segment over the past few quarters.

April 26, 2016
ACT leads in wired broadband subscriber additions in 2016

BENGALURU: Atria Convergence Technologies Private Limited (ACT, ACT Broadband) lead in net wired broadband subscriber additions in calendar year 2016 with 50,000 subscribers added during the first two months of calendar year 2016 (CY-2016). As per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), ACT’s broadband subscriber base as on 29 February 2016 (Feb-16) was 9.1 lakh as compared to the 8.6 lakh subscribers as on 31 December 2015 (Dec-15).

Until 30 October 2015 (Oct-15), ACT Broadband was leading in wireline broadband internet subscriber additions in India during calendar year 2015. Both ACT and Bharti Airtel had added 230,000 subscribers in CY-2015 until Nov-15. In December 2015 numbers released by TRAI indicated that as on 31 December 2015 (Dec-15), Bharti Airtel had added 2.6 lakh subscribers (subject to a granularity of 10,000) as compared to the 2.5 lakh subscribers added by ACT in the period between 31 December 2014 (hence 1 January 2015, Dec-14) and Dec-15. In terms of wireline internet subscription numbers, Airtel had 16.7 lakh subscribers while ACT had 8.6 lakh subscribers at the end of CY-2015.

As per TRAI data, the top five players in India in the wireline broadband internet space in pecking order are the public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel), public sector Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Atria Convergence Technologies Private Limited (ACT, ACT Broadband) and You Broadband (You BB). Among these 5, only BSNL and Airtel could be termed national players at present. BSNL, Airtel and MTNL also provide wireline and mobile services while Airtel also has a direct to home (DTH) segment. ACT started off as an MSO with operations concentrated in a few major cities and towns located mainly in South India. It started internet services (ACT Broadband) a little later and has grown its broadband internet subscriber base over time, to the extent that it is quite likely the biggest private wireline broadband player in South India. You BB offers broadband operations in a few cities in Maharashtra, Gujarat the NCR region Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

While the public sector players BSNL and MTNL have been losing subscribers and/or market share, the three private players have been growing on both these parameters as Fig 1 below indicates. In CY-2016, until Feb-16, both BSNL and MTNL have lost 10,000 wired broadband subscribers each, while You BB has added 10,000 subscribers. BSNL’s wired broadband subscriber base as on 29 February 2016 was 99.1 lakh, while MTNL had 11.1 lakh subscribers. You BB had 5.2 lakh subscribers for Feb-15.

Note: (1) 100,00,000 = 100 Lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

(2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.47 million (4.7 lakh) subscribers for You BB for July-2015 would be granular to the nearest 10,000. While percentages have been mentioned up to two decimal places, the accuracy may vary, depending upon the exact number.

(3) Industry sources say that TRAI numbers in the case of ACT for May-2015 are incorrect at 0.66 million and the correct number would be 0.693 million. This paper considers the number as 6.93 lakh or 0.693 million.

(4) MSOs’ have a number of subsidiaries and alliances, hence broadband numbers are split as applicable. The consolidated subscription numbers of these entities could be larger. Hathway is a case in point.

At the same time, the subscriber numbers share of the top five wired broadband players in the country has reduced from 88.45 percent from Dec-14 to 84.54 percent as on Feb-16. During the same period the all India wireline internet subscriber base has grown 9.33 per cent from 153.2 lakh to 167.5 lakh. The combined numbers of the top five players have increased by less than half of that in percentage terms – by 4.5 per cent from 136.3 lakh to 141.6 lakh. The top five players have added 5.3 lakh subscribers during these 14 months, with ACT and Bharti Airtel contributing to the major bulk of the growth. Please refer to Fig 2 below.

MSOs’ in India have started providing internet services on the back of their cable networks using Docsis technology. In general, they have started reporting double digit YoY increase in internet subscribers and revenue. Three of the major MSOs and a regional MSO – Hathway, Siti Cable, Den Networks, Ortel Communications whose results are available in the public domain for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-2016 current quarter) have been showing steady growth in their broadband segment over the past few quarters.

April 26, 2016
Will mobile devices/alternate screens takeover television?

In an age where the usage of connected devices is booming, it is a huge benefit for consumers to be able to watch content on alternate screens, alongside the conventional way, increasing the amount of overall content consumption in the Nation.

The alternate screens for a television viewing experience include Connected TVs, Internet Set-Top Boxes, Personal Computers, Smart-phones, Tablets and Smart Blu-ray players. Connected TVs (Smart TVs) are integrated with the internet, providing a technological convergence between computers and television sets/set-top boxes – these provide online interactive media, Internet TV, over-the-top content and on-demand streaming of media. Similarly, computers can also be used for streaming live television over the internet via websites. In the context of India, the use of mobile devices in the Nation has sky-rocketed, owing to the combination of inexpensive devices, low tariffs and the introduction of various applications, including those made particularly to stream television content such as Hotstar (Star TV) and most recently, VOOT (Viacom). Hotstar outdid apps such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to become the fastest to cross the million downloads mark within a week. VOOT is the only OTT player to start with original content from Day 1, which has specifically been made only for the digital platform itself.

With the advent of Netflix in India, we have the liberty to reap the benefits of the world’s top video streaming service, which allows users to watch content on various screens, now entering the Indian space with subscription for as low as Rs. 500. Globally, Netflix has been used extensively – with an average of 45GB of data consumed by their 20 million subscribers, across 130 countries per month. In the US, 36% of US homes are subscribed to the platform. In order to match increasing demands, Netflix pushed 329,400,000,000 GBs of data in 2015. Another factor that can be done away with whilst using alternate screens is to avoid watching advertisements; it was estimated that Netflix subscribers avoided watching 130 hours of commercials per year, by not watching broadcast TV.

Another powerful entrant providing 4G-based digital services with offers such as on-demand content and launching with 450 channels is Reliance JioPlay, with cutting edge features such as voice control and program catch-ups. Yet another introduction by one of the kingpins, Zee Entertainment, is OZEE, leaving consumers spoilt for choice with their video-on-demand platform, whereby the content of Zee channels is made available almost instantly, complementing the wave of viewers breaking away from appointment television. Collaboratively, there is much to look forward to in the realm that is Live TV on alternate screens of content consumption.

The success of these initiatives has come on the back of the increased usage of mobile devices and the internet; India currently has 980 million active mobile users, 171 million smart-phone users and 272 million wireless internet subscribers. To gauge an understanding of the current scenario of mobile usage around the world, the global internet average speed is supposedly 5.1 Mbps, with highest in South Korea at 23.6 Mpbs and 2.3 Mpbs in India.

A report by Ernst and Young expresses that Smart-phone penetration in the country is expected to grow to 520 million by 2020. To add to this this, the next phase of internet usage is expected to come from Tier II and Tier III cities, through wireless mobile internet. Basis the fact that Indian consumers have a significant inclination towards watching regional content, by 2020, of the 650 million internet users, 50-55 per cent are expected to be rural users, from the earlier 33% in 2013.

Pankaj Krishna, CEO & Founder of Chrome Data Analytics & Media, expressed his views, “Linear television continues to be the largest form of television viewing, in spite of technological advancements in the industry and alternate platforms to watch content, including tabs and mobile devices. They say old habits die hard; despite the paper and ink of newspapers being the costliest, they are still read as much as always – the same notion holds when it comes the conventional TV set. There are two qualities of viewing that one can choose – be it a 40″ TV screen or a 5″ tablet, the former is still as popular and, thus, may not be completely replaceable.”

Thus, it is safe to say that omni-platform content is taking over the nation (and world) by storm, without greatly cannibalizing viewing through conventional television sets, but instead – increasing the usage of other forms of content distribution. This use of smaller screens will fuel watching content individually, with 45% of all content consumed expected to be on the small screen by the next four years. The question is whether the rise of these alternate platforms will eventually make a dent in conventional television content viewing, or not, in the years to come.

April 22, 2016
Will mobile devices/alternate screens takeover television?

In an age where the usage of connected devices is booming, it is a huge benefit for consumers to be able to watch content on alternate screens, alongside the conventional way, increasing the amount of overall content consumption in the Nation.

The alternate screens for a television viewing experience include Connected TVs, Internet Set-Top Boxes, Personal Computers, Smart-phones, Tablets and Smart Blu-ray players. Connected TVs (Smart TVs) are integrated with the internet, providing a technological convergence between computers and television sets/set-top boxes – these provide online interactive media, Internet TV, over-the-top content and on-demand streaming of media. Similarly, computers can also be used for streaming live television over the internet via websites. In the context of India, the use of mobile devices in the Nation has sky-rocketed, owing to the combination of inexpensive devices, low tariffs and the introduction of various applications, including those made particularly to stream television content such as Hotstar (Star TV) and most recently, VOOT (Viacom). Hotstar outdid apps such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to become the fastest to cross the million downloads mark within a week. VOOT is the only OTT player to start with original content from Day 1, which has specifically been made only for the digital platform itself.

With the advent of Netflix in India, we have the liberty to reap the benefits of the world’s top video streaming service, which allows users to watch content on various screens, now entering the Indian space with subscription for as low as Rs. 500. Globally, Netflix has been used extensively – with an average of 45GB of data consumed by their 20 million subscribers, across 130 countries per month. In the US, 36% of US homes are subscribed to the platform. In order to match increasing demands, Netflix pushed 329,400,000,000 GBs of data in 2015. Another factor that can be done away with whilst using alternate screens is to avoid watching advertisements; it was estimated that Netflix subscribers avoided watching 130 hours of commercials per year, by not watching broadcast TV.

Another powerful entrant providing 4G-based digital services with offers such as on-demand content and launching with 450 channels is Reliance JioPlay, with cutting edge features such as voice control and program catch-ups. Yet another introduction by one of the kingpins, Zee Entertainment, is OZEE, leaving consumers spoilt for choice with their video-on-demand platform, whereby the content of Zee channels is made available almost instantly, complementing the wave of viewers breaking away from appointment television. Collaboratively, there is much to look forward to in the realm that is Live TV on alternate screens of content consumption.

The success of these initiatives has come on the back of the increased usage of mobile devices and the internet; India currently has 980 million active mobile users, 171 million smart-phone users and 272 million wireless internet subscribers. To gauge an understanding of the current scenario of mobile usage around the world, the global internet average speed is supposedly 5.1 Mbps, with highest in South Korea at 23.6 Mpbs and 2.3 Mpbs in India.

A report by Ernst and Young expresses that Smart-phone penetration in the country is expected to grow to 520 million by 2020. To add to this this, the next phase of internet usage is expected to come from Tier II and Tier III cities, through wireless mobile internet. Basis the fact that Indian consumers have a significant inclination towards watching regional content, by 2020, of the 650 million internet users, 50-55 per cent are expected to be rural users, from the earlier 33% in 2013.

Pankaj Krishna, CEO & Founder of Chrome Data Analytics & Media, expressed his views, “Linear television continues to be the largest form of television viewing, in spite of technological advancements in the industry and alternate platforms to watch content, including tabs and mobile devices. They say old habits die hard; despite the paper and ink of newspapers being the costliest, they are still read as much as always – the same notion holds when it comes the conventional TV set. There are two qualities of viewing that one can choose – be it a 40″ TV screen or a 5″ tablet, the former is still as popular and, thus, may not be completely replaceable.”

Thus, it is safe to say that omni-platform content is taking over the nation (and world) by storm, without greatly cannibalizing viewing through conventional television sets, but instead – increasing the usage of other forms of content distribution. This use of smaller screens will fuel watching content individually, with 45% of all content consumed expected to be on the small screen by the next four years. The question is whether the rise of these alternate platforms will eventually make a dent in conventional television content viewing, or not, in the years to come.

April 22, 2016
DoT takes on record spectrum sharing pact between RCom and RTL IN 800 MHz

NEW DELHI: The Department of Telecommunications has taken on record 800 Mhz Spectrum Sharing in seven circles of Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) and two circles of Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL), wholly owned subsidiary with Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL).

Giving this information to Bombay Stock Exchange, Reliance Communications Ltd said this was with effect from 21 April 2016.

The development was with reference to the earlier letter dated 18 January 2016 informing sharing of spectrum in 800 MHz with RJIL.

The Company and RTL are now able to share spectrum with RJIL in nine circles: Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh (East), Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orrisa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and the North East.

The DoT had in February approved sharing of active infrastructure like antenna used for transmitting mobile signals.

It is learnt that RCom has already paid Rs 5,383.84 crores to liberalise its spectrum in 16 circles which include Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, UP East and West, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kolkata and Bihar.

A liberalised spectrum allows telecom operators to use any technology to deliver mobile service like 3G and 4G. Besides, it allows introduction of new technologies and sharing and trading spectrum with other operators for its efficient use.

The Cabinet has earlier cleared liberalisation of spectrum allocated without auction to telecom companies – at prices recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India with the balance being collected after deriving market rate through bidding

April 22, 2016
DoT takes on record spectrum sharing pact between RCom and RTL IN 800 MHz

NEW DELHI: The Department of Telecommunications has taken on record 800 Mhz Spectrum Sharing in seven circles of Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) and two circles of Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL), wholly owned subsidiary with Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL).

Giving this information to Bombay Stock Exchange, Reliance Communications Ltd said this was with effect from 21 April 2016.

The development was with reference to the earlier letter dated 18 January 2016 informing sharing of spectrum in 800 MHz with RJIL.

The Company and RTL are now able to share spectrum with RJIL in nine circles: Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh (East), Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orrisa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and the North East.

The DoT had in February approved sharing of active infrastructure like antenna used for transmitting mobile signals.

It is learnt that RCom has already paid Rs 5,383.84 crores to liberalise its spectrum in 16 circles which include Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, UP East and West, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kolkata and Bihar.

A liberalised spectrum allows telecom operators to use any technology to deliver mobile service like 3G and 4G. Besides, it allows introduction of new technologies and sharing and trading spectrum with other operators for its efficient use.

The Cabinet has earlier cleared liberalisation of spectrum allocated without auction to telecom companies – at prices recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India with the balance being collected after deriving market rate through bidding

April 22, 2016
Reliance Jio expands India’s connectivity to the world through BBG

MUMBAI: Reliance Jio announced the launch of a new, state of the art 8,100 km cable system, the Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG).

BBG provides direct connectivity to South East Asia and the Middle East, then onward to Europe, Africa and Far East Asia through seamless interconnection with existing cable systems.

Reliance Jio owns and operates the strategically important undersea cable landing facility in Chennai, providing a high-speed, high-capacity, low latency route connecting India to the rest of the world.“

“We are excited about the launch of BBG as it offers not just direct connectivity in and out of India through Chennai and Mumbai but also acts as a state-of-the-art 100 Gbps extension of Jio’s 100 Gbps core network,” said Reliance Jio president Mathew Oommen.

He further added, “This global connectivity brings key international content hubs closer to our customers, delivering a much richer experience as an important part of driving India’s broadband adoption, enabling consumers to shift away from the current high-cost low value propositions.”

Providing robust, reliable, low latency connectivity, BBG strengthens one of the fastest growing global internet routes. BBG has deployed the latest submarine cable 100Gbps transmission technology, utilizing wavelength add/drop branching units along the route, with an initial equipped capacity of 9 terabits per second. In addition to Reliance Jio, the BBG partners include: Dialog Axiata, Etisalat, Omantel, Telecom Malaysia, and Vodafone.

April 18, 2016