ITV

Category: Broadband

  • BSNL strikes deal with Amazon for free Prime membership for post-paid, broadband customers

    BSNL strikes deal with Amazon for free Prime membership for post-paid, broadband customers

    Mumbai: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has tied up with e-commerce major Amazon to offer free Prime membership to select post-paid and broadband customers. BSNL users in India are eligible for one year of free membership worth Rs. 999. BSNL customers can avail these benefits with Rs 399 post-paid or Rs 745 broadband landline plans.
    The annual Amazon Prime membership can be activated through the BSNL website. Access to Prime Video is available after downloading the Prime Video app on supported devices. Similarly, one can enjoy Playlists and Stations specially curated by Amazon’s music editors across moods, activities, genres, artists and decades, by downloading the Amazon Prime Music app and avail shopping benefits by logging in with their Prime account credentials on Amazon.in.
    With this offering, eligible BSNL customers can enjoy unlimited streaming anytime, anywhere of top TV shows, standup comedies, favorite kids’ animation shows and premium movies – including the latest and exclusive blockbuster Bollywood and Indian Regional movies like Padmaavat, Raazi, Race 3, Kaala and Mahanati. Members can also enjoy critically acclaimed and hugely popular Prime Original series like Breathe, 2018 International Emmy® nominated Inside Edge, The Grand Tour, American Gods and now Comicstaan and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. In addition, customers can stream ad-free music with unlimited offline downloads across tens of millions of songs in multiple languages – English, Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi, Telugu, Bengali and more – and get free fast delivery on millions of items with early access to deals and discounts on Amazon.

    Amazon Prime Video India director and business head Gaurav Gandhi said, “Prime Video has received an overwhelming response from customers across the length and breadth of the country. We are thrilled that our association with BSNL will expand the reach of Prime Video to an even larger base of customers who can now enjoy premium content on a screen of their choice – be it their mobile device or the television in their living room.”
    BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava said “We understand the customer shift towards a highly networked digital ecosystem. Customers today demand freedom and flexibility in shopping and streaming content online. Our collaboration with Amazon India is our commitment to stay ahead of times providing the best to our customers. It provides them access to thousands of Indian and international movies, videos, TV Shows and music on the go. We are confident that our customers can enjoy uninterrupted on-the-go shopping and entertainment benefits with their Amazon Prime membership”.

    Amazon Prime India director and head Akshay Sahi said, “We are pleased to collaborate with BSNL making Amazon Prime membership accessible to more customers. Eligible BSNL post-paid and broadband landline customers can now experience Amazon Prime as a part of their plan. We believe these subscribers will love the many benefits of Prime and enjoy unlimited shopping, shipping and entertainment.”
    BSNL, Amazon Prime, Gaurav Gandhi, Anupam Shrivastava

  • Jio continued to add subscribers rapidly in July 2018

    Jio continued to add subscribers rapidly in July 2018

    BENGALURU: Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani’s largest startup in the world in the form of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, or simply Jio, continued adding subscribers at almost constant rate in the month of July 2018 (Jul-18) according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Telecom subscription data. According to the available Trai data for Jul-18, Jio’s subscriber base had been growing at about 5 per cent compounded rate month on month (m-o-m) in calendar year 2018. Jul-18 was no different. Jio’s subscriber base grew by 5.19 percent to 2,270.5 lakh in Jul-18 from 2,152.6 lakh in Jun-18. Since December 31, 2017, Jio had added 669.6 lakh subscribers until Jul-18– it grew 41.83 per cent in the period.

    Trai data for Jul-18 says that as per the reports received from 293 operators, the number of broadband subscribers increased from 4,471.2 lakh (447.12 million, 44.712 crore) at the end of Jun-18 to 4,692.4 lakh (460.24 million, 46.042 crore) at the end of Jul-18 with a monthly growth rate of 2.93 per cent.  Subscriber numbers for all the three broadband services segments – wireline or wired; mobile devices comprising of phones and dongles; and fixed wireless  (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to- Point Radio & VSAT) grew in Jul-18. Please refer to the figure below:

    The top five service providers constituted 97.75 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Jul-18. These service providers were Jio (2270.5 lakh, 227.05 million 22.705 crore), Bharti Airtel or Airtel (953.3 lakh, 95.33 million, 9.533 crore), Vodafone (637.9 lakh, 63.79 million, 6,379 crore), Idea Cellular (435.2 lakh, 43.52 million, 4,352 crore) and BSNL (201.8 lakh, 20.18 million, 2.018 crore). 

    Wireless broadband internet

    Wireless broadband subscribers growth in absolute numbers was led by Jio, followed by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and the public sector BSNL. BSNL was the only player among the top 5 wireless broadband internet services providers that lost subscribers in Jul-18.

    As on 31 July, 2018, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Jio (2,270.5 lakh, 227.05 million, 22.705 crore), Bharti Airtel (931.1 lakh, 93.11 million, 9.311 crore), Vodafone (639.7  lakh, 63.79 million, 6.379 crore), Idea Cellular (435.2 lakh, 43.52 million, 4,352 crore) and BSNL (110.03 lakh, 11.03 million, 1.103 crore). Please refer to the figure below:

    Wired broadband internet

    Wired broadband internet subscribers grew by 50,000 in Jul-18, but none of the top 5 wirelline internet service providers showed any substantial growth in Jul-18. As on 31 July, 2018, the top five wired broadband serviceproviders were BSNL (91.5 lakh, 9.15 million, 0.915 crore), Bharti Airtel (22.1 lakh, 2.21 million, 0.221 crore), Atria Convergence Technologies (13.4 lakh, 1.34 million, 0.134 crore), MTNL (8.30 lakh, 0.83 million, 0.083 crore) and Hathway Cable & Datacom (7.5 lakh, 0.75 million, 0.075 crore).Please refer to the figure below:

  • Hathway focuses on high data usage consumers to grow broadband

    Hathway focuses on high data usage consumers to grow broadband

    MUMBAI: Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd (HCDL), which has been one of the major players both in broadband and cable business, could be most vulnerable to the changes in the ecosphere given that much of its business is urban-centric. Now, the company is focusing on high data usage customers (more than 80 GB per month users) to remain relevant in the competition and the company will roll out more plans around this segment very soon. To have a more stable and loyal subscriber base, apart from 30,000 regular churn, it had 57,000 forced churn from low speed, low data consumption consumers.

    The company had to take the step of forced regular churn because it did not want to utilize capex for them. Low pricing data plans from networks can easily lure the customers who use less than 40 GB data per month increasing the churn rate of the service provider. Especially, the bucket of 0-20 GB data has more low pricing deal seeking tendency as HCDL MD Rajan Gupta said in an earnings call. Though the company is focusing on retaining 80 GB data users, he also mentioned there’s no stress in the bucket of more than 40 GB usage.

    “These customers, who were anyway not using the network, are suddenly getting the same 12-20 GB for Rs 200 even on post-paid, even with the reputed number 1 and number 2 players. So these people from January- February started asking for more and more deals. So we had two options. We could have given them deals and maintained them at Rs 300 ARPU. But then I’m blocking my capex, my CMTS, my network hubs, my data centre, which will prevent me from giving that sort of quality service to all my high data users, or I have to put much more capex. We didn’t want either of the scenarios,” Gupta explained the logic behind cleaning up “non-productive base”.

    While the company currently stands with 5.5 million home passes, for the rest of this financial year it will not expand home passes any more. The focus will be on adding high usage customers within the current network. The strategy is to initially invest in growing this base through a mix of FTTH, pay TV, OTT and IoT services. In few select cities, the plan of offering home services bundling solutions along with high-speed data has already been rolled out on a four-month plan. Gupta claims to see 10 per cent increase in gross addition in those particular geographies while six to seven per cent current consumers are upgrading to it.

    But before coming up with extravagant marketing strategy, it wants to get the right product first. In the next three to four months, the company will master the product and overall service. However, while ARPU has declined to Rs 690 this quarter, the initial focus is on adding value to the service of high usage customers rather than expecting a return in ARPU. Basically, the plan is revolving around J-curve growth strategy where the initial focus on service will lead to harvesting revenue and higher EBITDA growth.

    Jio Giga Fiber has already lured customers with several additional amenities including Jio Giga TV set top box. In this changing scenario, Airtel and BSNL have already revised their plans. The giant DTH player Tata Sky has recently rolled out its broadband service in 12 cities. Another MSO DEN Networks has chalked out plans of working more closely with local cable operators to get a hold of last mile competition.

    However, like many other experts in the industry Gupta also emphasised that with the entry of large players, the awareness about fibre to home, high speed broadband will increase because of the PR and marketing efforts. He mentioned that out of the current 17 million wire and broadband base, only 5 million is high speed broadband. On an optimistic note, he thinks eventually this 5 million will become 17 million.

    “We want to make sure, in every market we operate, we have the best of solutions; either the ability to give even 1,000 GB to a consumer at a very low price or the ability to give speeds of 200-300 Mbps. On ARPU we’ll see 2-3 per cent reduction every quarter,” he added.

    While the company which itself is focusing so much on broadband business sensing the demand, the question rises how OTT is affecting the churn in its cable business wing. Gupta says a high number of consumers are still sticking to cable and DTH because of low monthly pricing. He adds that OTT and cable or DTH will more and more start complimenting each other over a period.

    “We don’t believe these are two very separate spaces. We believe our expertise is the last mile. We have access to consumers. Now if consumers want broadband, we are pretty much there. If consumers want OTT, we will be there. And if consumers want linear TV, which again, is not showing any sign of drop, we are already there,” he added.

    In the cable TV segment, the company plans to increase phase III, phase IV ARPU by about 15 per cent. While 6 per cent has already come in Q1 owing to the price implementation, balance effect is expected to come in Q2. In the case of the first two phases, the plan is to increase ARPU by 7 per cent. As all the price changes have been implemented from the month of August, it hopes to stabilise it by September.

    The company plans to have 25,000-28,000 gross additions per month in the next 9 months of FY19. Alongside that, the company is also focusing on doing underground fibre to increase the service to customers. As the entire fixed broadband business ecosystem gradually picks up thanks to more Indian, vernacular content on OTT platforms, Hathway is also taking more aggressive moves in the segment.

  • Broadband internet subs growth better in Jun-18 than May-18

    Broadband internet subs growth better in Jun-18 than May-18

    BENGALURU: India witnessed 3.50 per cent growth in broadband internet customers in the month of June 2018 (Jun-18, month under review) according Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data for the month ended 30 June 2018. Hence, 151.18 lakh (15.118 million, 1.5118 crore) broadband subscribers were added in Jun-18. Comparatively, in May 2018, broadband internet customers grew 2.91 per cent (122.1 lakh, 12.21 million, 1.221 crore) vis-a-vis the previous month (April 18).

    The smallest segment among broadband internet services providers – the Fixed wireless- WiFi, Wi Max, Point to Point, Radio, Vsat segment, lost about 1,000 subscribers – the segment’s subscriber base fell from 4.09 lakh (0.409 million or 0.0409 crore) to 4.08 lakh (0.408 million or 0.0408 crore) during the month of Jun-18. The wired broadband internet subscriber base dropped by 40,000 to 179 lakh (17.90 million, 1.790 crore) in Jun-18 from 179.40 lakh (17.94 million, 1.794 crore) in the previous month.

    A major portion-100.28 per cent (151.60 lakh or 15.160 million or 1.5160 crore) of the new users opted for wireless broadband internet through mobile devices and dongles in Jun-18. The mobile devices and dongles segment grew 3.66 per cent in the month. It may be noted that TRAI considers download speeds equal to or in excess of 512 kbps as broadband internet. Also, TRAI subscriber numbers data is published in millions with 2 decimal places, hence the accuracy of this report is limited to the nearest 10,000 (Ten Thousand).

    As on 30 Jun 2018, the top five broadband internet service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd or Jio with 2152.6 lakh (215.26 million, 21.526 crore), Bharti Airtel or Airtel with 953.1 lakh (95.31 million, 9.531 crore), Vodafone with 628.6 lakh (62.86 million, 6.286 crore), Idea Cellular with 429.5 lakh (42.95 million, 4.295 crore) and BSNL with 203.4 lakh (20.34 million, 2.034 crore) subscribers respectively. The top five service providers constituted 97.67 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Jun-18, as compared to 97.54 per cent at the end of May-18.

    Wireless Internet

    As on 30 June, 2018, the top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Jio with 2152.6 lakh (215.26 million, 21.526 crore), Bharti Airtel with 931.1 lakh (93.11 million, 9.311 crore), Vodafone with 628.5 (62.85 million, 6.285 crore), Idea Cellular with 429.4 lakh (42.94 million, 4.294 crore) and BSNL with 111.9 lakh (11.19 million, 1.119 crore) subscribers each.

    Jio showed the largest growth in terms of absolute numbers across all segments. Jio’s subscribers have grown by 34.46 per cent in calendar year 2018 (CY 2018) since 31 December 2017 (or 1 January 2018, Dec-17). Its subscriber base has grown from 1,600.9 lakh (160.09 million, 16.009 crore) as on 1 January 2017 to 2,152.6 lakh (215.26 million or 21.526 crore) on 30 June 2018. Jio subscribers grew by 97.20 lakh (9.72 million, 0.972 crore) or 4.52 per cent in June 2018, hence led the subscriber growth in Jun-18 At present, Jio provides only wireless broadband internet services through mobile devices including phones and dongles. BSNL has being losing subscribers on a regular basis – it has lost 49.02 per cent or 107.60 lakh (10.76 million or 1.076 crore) subscribers in CY 2018. Please refer to the figure below

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    Wired Internet

    The wired internet subscriber base has been bleeding – the segment lost 40,000 subscribers during the month of June 2018. Among the top 5 service providers, only Bharti Airtel (10,000) and Atra Convergence Technologies or ACT (20,000) have added subscribers. The other three players among the top 5 have lost subscribers.

    Though growth of the wired internet subscribers until May-18 was led by Hathway Cable & Datacom Limited (Hathway), TRAI data shows that the company did not add any significant numbers in May-18 while it lost 40,000 subscribers in Jun-18. Its subscriber base for Apr-18 and May-18 was the same as per TRAI data. The company had added about 60,000 (grew by 8.22 per cent) subscribers in CY 2018 until May-18 and its subscriber base grew to 7.9 lakh (0.79 million, 0.079 crore) from 7.3 lakh (0.73 million, 0.073 crore) at the beginning of CY 2018. 

    In CY 2018, ACT has exhibited the highest growth at 4.69 per cent. Both AIrtel and ACT subscriber base has grown by 60,000 in CY 2018. In Jun-18, ACT had the highest subscriber growth – its base grew by 20,000 or 1.52 per cent.

    In Jun-18, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL with 91.5 lakh (9.15 million, 0.915 crore), Bharti Airtel with 22.1 lakh (2.21 million, 0.221 crore), ACT with 13.4 lakh (1.34 million, 0.134 crore), MTNL 8.3 lakh (0.83 million, 0.083 crore and Hathway with 7.5 lakh (0.75 million, 0.075 crore) subscribers respectively. The government’s BSNL and MTNL have in general being losing subscribers. Please refer to the figure below. 

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    Other broadband internet service providers

    MSOs and (LCOs) or cable video service providers also provide wired broadband internet services in the country. These cable service providers have a number of subsidiaries and alliances, hence broadband numbers are split as applicable. The consolidated subscription numbers of these entities could be larger than the numbers of some of the wired internet services providers mentioned above. However, in general, quarterly results of the major MSOs until the quarter ended 30 June 2018 (Q1 2019) indicate that their wired broadband subscription addition efforts have been far below par, some have even had a drop in subscriber numbers as well as reduction in ARPUs.
     

  • Airtel-Telenor to expand home broadband to 2 mn

    Airtel-Telenor to expand home broadband to 2 mn

    MUMBAI: Airtel’s acquisition of Telenor will provide the broadband business a boost. As India is an under-served market in broadband, the company is planning to expand its home pass footprint to 2 million in FY19.

    “For us, last couple of years we have been rolling out about 500,000 to 600,000 home passes. This year, our plan is to step it up to close to 2 million. We have begun this quarter in a slightly slower wicket, it takes time to ramp up, getting clearances and permissions and all. So you will see a step-up in our broadband, home broadband investment during the course of this year,” Bharti Airtel India CEO Gopal Vittal said.

    The company will also be looking at replacing in the marquee areas wherever they are in copper right now, to convert that into fiber. So that could be another 1 million-1.5 million home passes while all of it is planned in the next three, four to five quarters.

    Though APRUs are in constant pressure in the segment, the company thinks in long run this is an extremely profitable business to be in. In the home business segments, the company’s focus generally is highrises where the cost of rollout and capex is substantially lower than a flatbed. Moreover, it goes only for marquee flatbeds. Hence, the company is highly optimistic about this segment despite Jio’s recent GigaFiber rollout.

    In May, Department of Telecom’s (DoT) final nod completed Bharti Airtel and Telenor India’s fruitful merger and the company has net added 28 million customers from the acquisition. Though the overall number was approximately 31 million, it has lost 3-3.5 million customers, purely on account of dual simming or any other reason. While Reliance Jio’s entry in the market and ongoing tariff war has made the competition tough for the company, the merger may help it to stand in a better position.

    Vittal said the merger was very well planned. On the network side addition, the company knew exactly which site it needed and did not as there was no point of having a duplicate network. “The first 30 days (after the merger got approval), we actually shut off three circles. And then the next 30 days, we shut off another couple of circles. And we are now left with just one circle, which will be shut down very soon,” he said.

    Following DoT also nodded to Vodafone-Idea merger, the telecom industry in India is heading to a three players market largely. Vittal thinks the company is reaching a point where all the players are getting larger by the day. “There is a strong possibility that at the low levels of pricing, which are clearly sustainable in terms of return on capital and all the investments that have gone into the industry, also the fact that just an incredible amount of allowances that are being given to customers, I think some of this has to correct,” he commented.

  • Broadband on cable fibre declining?

    Broadband on cable fibre declining?

    BENGALURU: Is broadband on cable fibre on the decline in India? Results over the past few quarters of some of the multisystem operators or MSOs seem to indicate just that. Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani’s largest start up in the world Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (JIO) is the one of the biggest upheavals that has happened in the Indian telecommunications ecosystem ever. With its operations of scale and low cost services, there just does not seem to be a better bet for the prudent Indian internet user. What is missing is quality of services, but, then that is the case also with all the major mobile  and internet service providers in India, be it an Airtel or a Jio or a Vodafone or the public sector BSNL and MTNL.

    Wired broadband internet subscriber numbers have been declining, while wireless broadband internet subscribers have been growing according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) data. Among the top five wired internet services providers in India, BSNL and MTNL have been slowly and steadily losing subscribers. However, the overall loss of wired broadband subscribers is higher than the numbers bled by these two public sector behemoths. Subscription numbers of the other three players in Trai’s top five wired broadband internet service providers list such as Bharti Airtel, ACT and Hathway have been either increasing slowly or have been steady month-on-month in calendar year 2018 according to Trai data. MSOs and LCOs are among the other wired internet service providers in the country. Financial numbers released by major and other MSO and wired internet service providers such as Siti Networks, Den or Ortel indicate lower revenues from their respective broadband segments, implying either loss of subscribers or lower ARPU due to competitive pricing or both.

    Is the laying of fibre cable or FTTH (fibre to the home) that Jio has planned to provide broadband internet services to the doorstep out the right way forward? Anything that Reliance does will be on a huge scale. However, why not pause and limit the size of Jio’s FTTH plans and then leapfrog and start offering 5G services? 5G is a wireless service to the user’s door and needs no messy holes or wires for access into the user’s home. All that is needed by the user is a modem that works like a wireless modem.

    Affordable 5G services could effectively change how a user receives internet and related services. It’s not going to be easy and will require a huge amount of capital for the infrastructure for line of sight transmission in crowded cities, etc. But, already players such as AT&T and Verizon in the US have planned a slow but steady rollout of 5G services in the US. One the US majors will roll 5G services first in four cities by the end of 2018 and then across the US over time. Players in the US are planning to bundle 5G services with offers such as free Youtube.com TV and Apple TV 4K for a limited period of time. Jio has the resources, the wherewithal to do so.

    Of course 5G could be even more bad news for the current Indian cable TV ecosystem’s wired broadband offerings, maybe even the current Indian media and entertainment ecosystem, but could be a huge beneficial and cost effective game changer for the user. Using the cliché, change is the only constant, well maybe the entire ecosystem that brings entertainment to the common Indian does need a huge shakeup?

  • BharatNet project will boost rural broadband services: Telecom Minister

    BharatNet project will boost rural broadband services: Telecom Minister

    NEW DELHI: There are 412.60 million broadband connections in the country of which 106.52 million are in rural areas, Communication Minister Manoj Sinha said yesterday.

    Sinha said in the Lok Sabha or India’s Lower House of Parliament that broadband services in rural areas have seen good progress on the back of substantial development in the telecommunication sector.

    “The number of broadband connections in the country as on 31 March 2018 stood at 412.60 million out of which rural broadband connections are 106.52 million, which constitutes 25.82 per cent of total connections,” he said, adding that the government is implementing the flagship BharatNet project to link each of the 250,000 gram panchayats or the local village administrations in the country through optical fibre network.

    This is the largest rural connectivity project of its kind and is the first pillar of the Digital India programme, he said.

    Phase-I of the project has been completed in December 2017 and over 100,000 village administrations have been made service-ready. Phase II of BharatNet project, which aims to connect 150,000 gram panchayats (GPs) through high speed broadband, has been launched and is targeted to be completed by March 2019.

    The optical fibre being laid under the BharatNet project is expected to be the primary means for internet backhaul, which can be leveraged to service the telecommunications towers in the rural areas. This, in turn, will give a boost to mobile internet availability and adoption in the rural areas. 

    As part of BharatNet project, the last mile connectivity, through Wi-Fi or any other suitable broadband technology is being provided at all the GPs in the country. At each GP, on an average five access points are envisaged that include three points for government institutions and two for public places.

    Overall mobile Internet penetration in the country has seen major changes in the last four years. The total number of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) across the country has increased from 790,000 in 2014 to more than 18,00000 as of March 2018 of which 905,000 BTS are of 4G. The increased number of BTS has resulted in greater adoption of mobile internet across the country, the Minister said. 

  • UK targets full-fibre broadband coverage by 2033

    UK targets full-fibre broadband coverage by 2033

    MUMBAI: To ensure that all citizens of UK benefit from technology, the government has said that FTTH should be fitted as standard in all new homes. This proposal is part of a new national telecoms strategy drawn up by the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

    Currently, copper wire network delivers the service which is targeted to be replaced by full-fibre broadband coverage by 2033 across the country. “We want everyone in the UK to benefit from world-class connectivity, no matter where they live, work or travel,” DCMS Secretary Jeremy Wright said.

    “This radical new blueprint for the future of telecommunications in this country will increase competition and investment in full-fibre broadband, create more commercial opportunities and make it easier and cheaper to roll out infrastructure for 5G,” he added.

    As in some parts of the country, it was unlikely that the market could deliver by itself, the government would support investment in the most difficult-to-reach areas. Recently, UK slipped from 31st to 35th place in the global broadband league tables, behind 25 other European countries, as per data from M-Lab.

    “We welcome the government’s review, and share its ambition for full-fibre and 5G networks to be rolled out right across the UK,” Ofcom chief executive Sharon White commented. “The government and Ofcom are working together, and with industry, to help ensure people and businesses get the broadband and mobile they need for the 21st century, ” she added.

    “As well as broadband, this plan will also leave the UK well-placed to introduce the latest 5G mobile technology wherever people live, work and travel,” National Infrastructure Commission chairman Sir John Armitt said.
     

  • Cable TV, DTH players cautiously optimistic on Jio fiber competition

    Cable TV, DTH players cautiously optimistic on Jio fiber competition

    MUMBAI: The terminator…, oops sorry, the disruptor is back. And, this time it is targeting India’s multi-billion-dollar cable TV and DTH businesses with promises to unleash high-speed fixed line fiber-based broadband services that aims to “connect everyone, and everything, everywhere” — at least in 1,100 cities to begin with. No wonder the legacy businesses are eyeing the announcement on the launch of Reliance Jio GigaFiber project with a mix of healthy skepticism and optimism.

    “It will be a challenge, but then this would increase general awareness about fixed-line broadband (FLBB) services as penetration of wired broadband is pretty low,” Kerala Communicators Cable Ltd (KCCL) CEO Shaji Mathews told Indiantelevision.com when asked about the big bang launch of Jio GigaFiber from 15 August 2018, which is also backed by Reliance Industries’ money power.

    According to Mathews, Jio GigaFiber rollout would help getting the focus back on good quality FLLB services as “over the years the industry in general had been focusing on and talking more about wireless broadband”. KCCL is an initiative of independent cable TV operators in Kerala under the guidance of Cable Operators Association (COA), an umbrella union of over 4,000 local cable operators functioning all over the southern state.

    What about the gorilla in the room? Mathews, who has spent almost a life time in the cable TV business, was of the opinion that Jio’s entry into the FLLB segment would “bring true value to real players as the capable cable ops will survive” the competition. “Moreover, as the cable companies are already on ground with existing businesses, they have an added benefit of existing fiber optics,” he added optimistically.

    Echoing similar sentiments SITI Networks Limited chief business officer Rajesh Sethi, while accepting further disruption — as in Jio fiber — was expected in the content delivery eco-system, said, “As we keep pace with changing technological trends, the industry is expected to become more multifaceted, efficient and customer centric.”

    A senior rep from another MSO company who didn’t want to be named felt that with the entry of cash-rich companies like Reliance Jio, it would help legacy players to “focus better” on the core business. “The new venture of Jio will also bring back investors’ focus on the sector, apart from increased awareness among consumers,” the MSO company exec added while talking to Indiantelevision.com.

    India’s FLBB penetration was expected to increase to 10.3 per cent from the present single digit share by year 2022 as per Singapore-based Media Partners Asia research. As content and applications were also getting heavier and denser in size gradually, there were fair chances that Jio could disrupt the market, while other players have equal opportunity too in this segment, the MPA analysis had stated some time back.

    An immediate effect of the Jio fiber project announcement was that shares of listed MSO companies like Hathway Cable & Datacom, Den Networks, GTPL Hathway and SITI Networks dropped in the early part of trading on Indian bourses. It must also be mentioned that shares of Reliance Industries too had dipped in early trading as RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani was addressing the shareholders at yesterday’s company annual general meeting.

    While the spotlight may be falling on cable operators and MSOs, there is no denying the fact that Jio GigaFiber could also impact the business plans of DTH platforms and incumbent telecom players like Airtel, Vodafone and even State-run BSNL as Jio plans to offer not only just FLBB, but also a host of other telecom and TV services, apart from smart solutions for the retail consumer’s home, in general.

    India’s DTH players, for example, felt that while fiber-based broadband services could be a good option for high-rise residential complexes in urban Indian cities, it would be a challenge to lay fiber in far-flung hilly areas or take the lines into homes in those places where houses are horizontally laid out.  

    For cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Gurugram, having rows and rows of high-rise gated residential complexes, fiber based broadband services was a good opportunity, but it would be an expensive affair for a row of houses, DTH operator Dish TV’s managing director Jawahar Goel was quoted by BloombergQuint as saying. He added: “For delivering the cable and DTH services, we will always have the competitive edge, as our cost is lesser.”

    Telcos like Bharti Airtel, considered India’s biggest operator in terms of market and subscriber shares, however, are expected to react to the impending Jio competition in FLLB by cutting subscription rates and handing out higher monthly data packages to consumers at reduced costs.

    Over the last few months, Airtel, for example, has been aggressively attempting to sell its high-speed digital fixed line broadband services to existing consumers in Delhi and National Capital Region, which includes areas like Gurugram and places like Vaishali and Kaushambi in Ghaziabad district and Noida — all having rows of high-rise residential complexes of various sizes with varied population.

    Meanwhile, telecom industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which has been at loggerheads with member Reliance Jio over a slew of issues in the past, yesterday termed Jio’s fixed-line fiber broadband system as a “game changer” and said the company garnering over 200 million mobile users in a short span of time is “commendable”, according to a Press Trust of India report from New Delhi.

    “The announcements made by Mukesh Ambani (RIL chairman) have positioned RJio as an extensive technology company rather than just a telecom service provider. This is an interesting development and once the plans laid out today start taking shape, we can expect new streams of revenue to be initiated that will benefit the industry,” COAI director-general Rajan S Mathews was quoted by the wire service as having said in a statement.

    The PTI report also took note of a latest note from JP Morgan that said while there were no details yet on pricing of the upcoming optic fiber broadband service, it was of the view that given Jio’s customer acquisition strategy, the launch pricing should effectively be at a “large discount” to current broadband and set top box pricing prevalent.

  • Public wifi to connect 40 mn Indians by 2019

    Public wifi to connect 40 mn Indians by 2019

    MUMBAI: A joint report by Google and global research firm Ananlysys Mason stated that public Wi-Fi in India has the ability to capture 40 million new connected users by 2019, resulting in at least $20 billion being added to the country’s GDP. Public Wi-Fi could play a key role in driving ubiquitous connectivity and digital inclusion in India.

    The report, titled “Accelerating connectivity through public Wi-Fi: Early lessons from the railway Wi-Fi project,” outlined an opportunity to develop a wider connectivity ecosystem with public Wi-Fi as a key component.

    Analysys Mason principal consultant Ashwinder Sethi said,”By 2019, over 100 million users will spend an extra $3 billion annually on mobile broadband and handsets because of their experience of high-speed public Wi-Fi. This has direct implications on Wi-Fi ecosystem in the country, and indirect implications on the broader connectivity ecosystem, along with government, GDP and productivity.”

    Google has currently partnered with RailTel and Indian Railways to offer public Wi-Fi in railway stations, covering 400 stations with about 7.6 million monthly active Wi-Fi users. The high-speed Wi-Fi network with uncapped bandwidth of 1 Gbit/s per station provides path-breaking digital experience to existing and new users alike.

    Google India partnership Next Billion Users director K Suri said, “India is a big market for the next billion users. Wi-Fi is a huge focus area and opportunity in terms of connecting these users. We have found that if users have free and fast access, it could make a significant change to their lives and overall economic prosperity.”

    Offered as a free utility service under the brand name “RailWire”, users have 30 minutes of free access to the internet, in which they can on an average consume 350 MB of data per session.

    “Currently, the public Wi-Fi has close to eight million monthly active users, two-thirds of which are in a typically young age group. While 50 per cent users access theinternet multiple times a day, 36 per cent are first time Wi-Fi users on the network,” Suri said.

    “The most usage is of online videos streaming content and watching IPL, social networking, finance. Even with multiple users getting connected at the same time, the experience is seamless and fast, with no buffering,” the Google executive noted.

    As part of the next billion users’ initiative, Google is now building on the success of RailTel project to expand the public Wi-Fi outside train stations, into Indian cities and around the world like Indonesia and Mexico, among others, Suri added.

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