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  • TOPSGRUP recognized as India’s Most Trusted Brand for 2015 in the Security Category

    TOPSGRUP recognized as India’s Most Trusted Brand for 2015 in the Security Category

    Mumbai – November 30, 2015: TOPSGRUP, India’s largest security group, received the unique recognition of being recognized as INDIA’S MOST TRUSTED BRAND for 2015 in the Security Category. The brand was selected amongst more than 2,000 short listed brands related to various categories based on a consumer survey conducted in India by Media Research Group (MRG), a company with close to 15 years’ experience in conducting exhaustive research of this nature.

     

    Being the 3rd such award for the company this year, the global security service provider has been recognized as INDIA’S NO. 1 BRAND IN THE SECURITY CATEGORY by the Indian Brand Leadership Awards in association with IBC Infomedia (International Brands Consultants). Furthermore, according to the BRAND TRUST REPORT INDIA, TOPSGRUP has significantly risen to 171th position from 800th position in 2014 across all segments and brands in India.

     

    Ramesh Iyer, Vice Chairman & CEO – India, TOPSGRUP said, “INDIA’S MOST TRUSTED BRAND Award is a true recognition of excellence and appreciation of our brand. As trust is the very basis of security solutions, all the three awards are a source of great pride to our firm. They reassure and show our dedication towards creating the most secure environment for our clients.”

     

    At the awards ceremony, organized by IBC Infomedia Corp, USA, TOPSGRUP proudly finds itself in the company of other leading and established brands like as Airtel, Samsung, Dabur, Air Asia, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Croma, Lodha and Aquaguard among others.

     

    The grand awards ceremony which felicitated and honoured more than 50 successful brands saw more than 200 delegates including CEOs, Managing Directors, Vice Presidents and Directors in attendance.

  • Wired Broadband: ACT, Airtel lead growth in Sep 2015; MSOs’broadband numbers increasing

    Wired Broadband: ACT, Airtel lead growth in Sep 2015; MSOs’broadband numbers increasing

    BENGALURU:  ACT continues to lead the wired broadband growth in calendar year 2015 with 1.9 lakh subscribers(or 23.46 percent of the total all India additions since December 31, 2014) additions fromDecember 31, 2014 until September 30, 2015. However, month-on-month, Bharati Airtel leads growth in subscription numbers by contributing 40,000 additions or 30.77 percent of the 130,000 broadband numbers added all India in the month of September 2015. ACT added 30,000 subscribers or 23.08 percent of the total broadband subscribers added in September 2015. BSNL added 10,000 or 7.69 percent of the total subscribersadded in September 2015. Both MTNL and You BB did not report any change from their August 2015 subscription numbers.

    Are the MSOs’ initiatives by carrying internet on their cable TV infrastructure beginning to show? Definitely yes! Will they surpass the numbers attained by the top 5 ISPs’? Maybe with a concentred effort, yes they may, but it will take plenty of doing and make take some time.Please read on.

    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 perforce 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.

    (5) Ortel’s numbers for Q3-2015 have been estimated from the numbers released by it for Q1-2015, Q2-2015, Q4-2015 and FY-2015.

    (6)  The term ‘operating revenue’ in this paper indicates ‘total income from operations’.

    The Top 5 ISPs’

    The latest subscription numbers disclosed by The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) as on September 30, 2015, reveal that the total number of wired broadband subscribers in India stood at 161.3 lakh. Hence 8.1 lakh subscribers were added between December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015, and 1.3 lakh subscribers were added in September 2015. Please refer to figure 1 below

    The pecking order for the top 5 wireline internet service providers or ISPs’ remains the same with the top three – Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Bharati Airtel (Airtel) and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL) also providing voice (telephone) services and many of their wired internet customers use both services – voice and data. The big three are followed by ACT (Atria Convergence Technologies) and You Broadband India Private Limited (You BB).

    Please refer to figure 2 below. As mentioned above, ACT still continues to lead the growth in wired broadband subscriptions with a net addition of 30,000 subscribers in September 2015, taking its tally to 1.9 lakh subscribers (23.46 percent of the all India additions) added sinceDecember 31, 2014.Hence ACT’s market share in the wired internet space in India improved by 15 basis points to 4.96 percent in August 2015 as compared to 4.81 in Aug-2015. Since December 31, 2014, ACT’s market share has gone up 98 basis points (from 3.98 percent) based on a granularity of 10,000.

    However, telecom major Bharti Airtel is swiftly closing the gap. Like in August2015, the behemoth added 40,000 wiredinternet subscribers in September 2015, taking its tally to 1.7 lakh subscribers (20.99 percent of the all India additions) added between December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015.  Airtel’s market share improved 17 basis points to 9.80 percent in Sep 2015 as compared to 9.63 percent in Aug 2015. Airtel had a market share of 9.20 percent on December 31, 2014.

    You BB did not report any subscriber additionsin September 2015, its tally remained the same at 4.8 lakh subscribers until September 30, 2015, and it had a net addition of 60,000 subscribers (7.41 percent of the all India additions) since December 31, 2014. Hence You BB’s market share has declined by 2 basis points to 2.98 percent in September 2015 as compared to the 3 percent in August 2015. You BB had a market share of 2.74 percent as on December 31, 2014.

    The public sector BSNL increased its subscription numbers by 10,000 to 99.3 lakh or 61.56 percent of the all India total. However, BSNL’s market share declined by 44 basis points as compared to 62 percent in August 2015.As on December 31, 2014, BSNL had a market share of 65.14 percent

     MTNL subscription numbers were the same as the numbers reported for June 2015, July 2015 and August 2015, and hence there appears to be no net growth in wired broadband subscribers on its part. However, since the overall market size is increasing,MTNL’s market share has also declined even further. MTNL lost 5 basis points to reach a market share of 7.01 percent as compared to 7.06 percent in August 2015. As on December 31, 2014MTNL had a market share of 7.38 percent.

    MSOs’ contribution to broadband

    The combined subscription number of the top five wired ISP’ as on September 30, 2015 was 139.2 lakh or 86.30 percent of the total number of the 161.3 lakh wireline broadband subscribers in India. On December 31, 2014, the corresponding combined number was 135.5 lakh or 88.45 percent of the total number of 153.2 lakh broadband wireline subscribers in the country. The combined share of overall wired internet subscribers of the top five companies is declining, with other players increasing their contribution to wireline broadband subscription numbers.

    The decline between December 31, 2014 and September 30, 2015 was 147 basis points. Other ISP’s share of subscribers has increased to the same extent. Among the ‘Others’ are included Cable TV MSOs’. MSOs’ in India are looking at broadband revenues to prop up their cable revenue numbers because of the comparatively higher ARPUs’ from broadband internet services.  Please refer to Fig 3 below.

    In the three month period starting July 1, 2015 until September 30, 2015 or Q2-2016 (current quarter), the wired internet subscriber base in the country has grown by 4.3 lakh. Of these, the top 5 ISPs added 2.3 lakh subscribers or 53.49 percent of total additions in Q2-2016. At the same time, MSOs’ have started reporting double digit increase in internet subscribers and revenue.  Four MSOs’ – Hathway, Siti Cable, Ortel and Den added 1.09lakh (25.34 percent of total additions in Q2-2016) subscribers during that period as per their financial reports filed at the bourses.QoQ, the combined broadband subscribers in Q2-2016 added by the four MSOs’ increased by 58.36 percent from 0.69 lakh added in Q1-2016.

    For Q1-2016, if the drop in broadband subscription numbers to the extent of 50,000 and 10,000 by BSNL and MTNL respectively is neglected, the other three players among top five wirelineISPs’ in India added 1.2 lakh (37.50 percent of total additions in Q1-2016) of the 3.2 lakh subscribers added in that period.If the drop in subscriber numbers by BSNL and MTNL is considered, the top 5 ISPs’ added just 0.6 lakh wireline broadband subscribers or 18.75 percent of the total subscribers added in Q1-2016. The four MSOs’ contribution to the subscriber base was approximately 0.69 lakh or 21.50 percent of the total additions in Q1-2016. Hence in Q1-2016, four MSOs’ actually added more subscribers than the combined number of subscribers added by the top 5 wired ISPs’ in India.

    Cable companies such as Hathway reported consolidated internet subscription numbers of 5.15 lakh with 2 lakh asDocsis 3.0at the end of the current quarter (Q2-2016). While ACT has laid separate optical fibre for internet and is exploring territories beyond which it has cable TV operations, for the other MSOs’ it is a lot cheaper to have the internet signal ride on their existing cable TV networks wires.

    Last quarter (Q1-2016), Ortel announced that it had introduced free broadband option for all Ortel Cable TV subscribers in the states of Odisha, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh as a complimentary special value added service in order to target to deeper penetrate into markets by making internet affordable. Ortel says that its offer includes a free data limit every month for a year. The subscriber will be charged a nominal amount after exceeding the free data usage for the month.

    Some MSOs’ broadband numbers

    Broadband contributes in double digit percentages to the total incomes or operating revenue of two of the four sample companies in this paper – Hathway (about 25 percent and growing) and Ortel (declined from 21.07 percent in Q1-2015 to 16.80 percent in Q2-2016). Please refer to Fig 4 below. In the case of Siti Cable and Den, revenue from broadband services contributed to less than 5 percent to their operating incomes.

    Hathway reported broadband revenue of Rs 71.9 crore (26.24 percent of operating revenue) in the current quarter, 58.4 percent higher YoY than the Rs 45.4 crore (17.23percent of operating revenue), and 10.4 percent more than the Rs 65.1 crore (24.62 percent of operating revenue)in the immediate trailing quarter.Last quarter, the company said that it had added 50,000 broadband subscribers in Q1-2016, and claimed a broadband subscriber base of 4.6 lakh, of which 1.7 lakh were under Docsis 3.0. Hathway says that broadband ARPU increased 6.8 percent QoQ to Rs 616 from Rs 577 and that its Docsis 3 consumer ARPU has reached Rs 750.

    Siti Cable says that it has added 16,950 broadband subscribers in Q2-2016, taking its broadband subscriber base to 91,450 from 74,500 in the previous quarter. Broadband revenue increased 50 percent YoY in Q2-2106 to Rs 9.30 crore (3.30 percent of operating revenue) from Rs 6.20 crore (3.95 percent of operating revenue) and increased 3.3 percent QoQ from Rs 9 crore (2.83 percent of operating revenue).

    Ortel’s broadband customers grew 8.9 percent to 63,663 in the current quarter from 57,528 in Q2-2015 and grew 4.5 percent from 60,900 in Q1-2016.Ortel’s broadband ARPU in Q2-2016 was Rs 395, in Q2-2015, it was Rs398 and in Q1-2016, it was Rs 393. Ortel reported 11.7 percent growth in YoY total broadband services revenue to Rs 8.1 (16.80 percent of operating revenue ) crore in the current quarter as compared to Rs 7.3 crore (19.89 percent of operating revenue ) and a 7.9 percent QoQ growth from Rs 7.5 crore(17.40percent of operating revenue).

    Den says that it has added 21,000 subscribers in the current quarter as compared to 12,000 in Q1-2016. Its total broadband subscriber base in Q2-2016 was 57,000 as compared to 35,000 in Q1-2016 and 16,000 in Q2-2015.Den’s broadband revenue increased 58 percent in the current quarter to Rs 8.23 crore(3.03 percent to operating revenue)  as compared to the Rs 5.21 crore (1.96 percent of operating revenue) in Q1-2016 and Rs 1.44 crore (0.49 percent of operating revenue) in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    End points

    The four ISPs’(other than ACT) in this report that use their MSO platform for internet service delivery currently are –Hathway, Siti Cable, Ortel and Den in that order in terms of number of broadband internet subscribers in Q2-2016. Three of the four have cable TV subscribers in excess of 100 lakhs each on a consolidated basis, while Ortel had around 5.72 lakh revenue generating units (RGUs)as on September 30, 2015.

    The largest cable TV ISP among them is Hathway with 5.15 lakh subscribers, or just around 5 percent of its total cable TV subscriber base. In the case of Siti Cable and Den, their own internet penetration within their respective cable TV subscriber bases is less than 100 basis points. Many of these MSOs’ subscribers must have opted for internet services from other ISPs’, and all must have some non-cable TV  broadbandinternet subscribers. For these MSOs’ (and other MSOs’) the potential for converting their cable TV subscribers to double play subscribers is huge. This is the low hanging fruit that the MSOs’ can easily pluck if they do it right and increase their revenues and profitability.

  • This Diwali, Big Magic & 92.7 Big FM presents ‘Ji Sirji’

    This Diwali, Big Magic & 92.7 Big FM presents ‘Ji Sirji’

    MUMBAI: Big Magic poised to be the ultimate comedy destination from Reliance Broadcast Network Limited, launches yet another innovative concept from its bouquet of differentiated content titled Ji Sirji.

     

    In line with its integrated programming strategy, this is the fifth successive show being launched by the network, which will air from November 11th, every Wednesday, Thursday at 10 PM on Big Magic and Wednesday, Thursday at 9 PM on 92.7 Big FM.

     

    Versatile actor Anup Soni will be seen taking the audiences on a hilarious ride, as he would bring forth day to day shenanigans in a professional work set-up, focusing on the relationship between bosses and their subordinates in the form of funny sketches. The show will also witness various actors playing roles of subordinates, who are usually at the receiving end of the whims and fancies of their respective bosses. One of the popular names playing a subordinate on the show is actor Gaurav Sharma, who is known for his character of Pappu from Total Nadaniyaan.

     

    Talking about the new integrated offering, Big Magic creative director Bimal Unnikrishnan said, “Our current programming strategy revolves around conceptualizing content that resonates easily with our target audience, with a high degree of humor and entertainment. The relationship between a boss and his subordinate is an interesting, relatable theme.

     

    Ji Sirji will bring forth this very relationship in an unconventional style, with funny, topical sketches, one that hasn’t been seen before by the audience. Moreover, with our integrated approach, we are widening our reach by tapping viewers and listeners on both our mediums of dominance.”

     

    Each episode of Ji Sirji will see multiple sketches, each focusing on a profession, various types of bosses and their behavior. Anup Soni will be seen playing a boss who has an OCD issue to being unreasonable, sadist, foolish, insecure and many more. Moreover, he will portray bosses across professions, switching between a corporate executive, government babu and even a truck driver!

     

    Big Magic is available across all DTH players such as Tata Sky, Airtel, Videocon, Dish TV, Reliance Digital TV along with all cable operators as Hathway, Incable, Digicable, DEN, 7 Star, ABS, Siticable, Star Broadband and GTPL amongst others.

  • Q2-2016: OnMobile YoY revenue flat: EBIDTA up 41.7%

    Q2-2016: OnMobile YoY revenue flat: EBIDTA up 41.7%

    BENGALURU: Mobile music play service company OnMobile Global Limited (OnMobile) reported almost flat (decline of 0.2 per cent) consolidated revenue or Income from Operations (TIO) for the quarter ended 30 September, 2015 (Q2-2016, current quarter) at Rs 206.98 crore as compared to the Rs 207.45 crore in Q2-2015. TIO for the current quarter grew 2.6 per cent as compared to the Rs 201.82 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    Note: 100,00,000 = 100 Lakhs = 10 million = 1 crore

     

    The company’s EBIDTA in the current quarter grew 41.7 per cent to Rs 39.34 crore (19 per cent margin) as compared to the Rs 27.77 crore (13.4 per cent margin) in the corresponding year ago quarter and was 12 per cent more than the Rs 35.12 crore (17.4 per cent margin) in the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    OnMobile reported profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 1.26 crore (0.6 per cent margin) in Q2-2016 as compared to a loss of Rs 1.21 crore in Q2-2015 and a loss of Rs 0.16 crore in Q1-2016.

     

    Business Performance

     

    OnMobile says that its International revenue grew by eight per cent YoY and 2.8 per cent QoQ. Europe recorded a revenue growth of 49.2 per cent YoY and 4.4 per cent QoQ, while in Other Emerging Markets, revenue grew by 6.7 per cent YoY and seven per cent QoQ to Rs 37.3 crore (18 per cent of TIO). 

     

    Its Latin America revenue was down by 1.5 per cent QoQ and 23.9 per cent YoY respectively. However, Latin America revenue grew by five per cent QoQ, excluding the forex impact of fluctuations in local currencies.

     

    India Business

     

    OnMobile’s India revenue was Rs 45.1 crore (21.8 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2016, a growth of 1.7 per cent QoQ and reduction of 21.6 per cent YoY. It says that it has won western circles from Airtel for Ring Back Tone business to become the largest Ring Back Tone partner for Airtel in India. OnMobile says that this win increases its reach in Airtel from over six crore subscribers to over 11.5 crore subscribers.

     

    The company says that CVAS, a direct to consumer product, has been launched in a large operator in India.

     

    Let us look at some of the other numbers reported by OnMobile

     

    Total Expenditure (TE) in the current quarter declined 5.2 per cent to Rs 204.74 crore (98.9 per cent of TIO) as compared to the Rs 215.92 crore (104.1 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2015, but was 0.4 per cent more than the Rs 203.97 crore (101.1 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2016.

     

    A major expense head for the company is Content Fee and Royalty (CFR). OnMobile paid 41.3 per cent higher CFR in the current quarter at Rs 67.55 crore (32.6 per cent of TIO) as compared to the Rs 47.79 crore (23 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2015 and 5.9 per cent more than the Rs 63.76 crore (31.6 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2016.

     

    The company’s Other sales and services cost declined 52.5 per cent to Rs 9.72 crore (4.7 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2016 as compared to the Rs 20.46 crore (9.9 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2015 and was 15.6 per cent lower than the Rs 11.52 crore (5.7 per cent of TIO) in the previous quarter.

     

    OnMobile says that it has done a ‘Headcount optimization’ during the last financial year and quarter, which has resulted in a reduction of manpower cost. It says that its employee base at the end of Q2-2016 was 1,075. The company’s Employee Benefits Expense (EBE) in the current quarter declined 23.6 per cent to Rs 55.47 crore (26.8 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2016 as compared to the Rs 72.63 crore (35 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2015 and was 3.9 per cent less than the Rs 57.70 crore (28.6 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2016.

  • DTH payment system provider BuySmart completes a Decade

    DTH payment system provider BuySmart completes a Decade

    MUMBAI: Starting their operations in 2005, the Indo-Israeli company began with Tata Sky, Videocon D2H and Sun DTH as their earliest clients and taking their service offering across India through an electronic distribution system. Over the next few years, the company strengthened its digital distribution on a pan India presence and also built a payment super highway with a scalable and robust technology that supports their B2B2C business model.

     

    EPRS BuySmart has, since then, expanded into offering a basket of products through their strong network of more 2.5 lakh retail outlets in more than 35,000 towns in India. As their technology works in the absence of strong Internet infrastructure also, the company has been able to reach Tier III/IV towns and villages in India, and currently, the company counts more than 300,000+ transactions/day on their platform. With the earlier focus on telecom & DTH, the company has now expanded into financial, logistics, utility payment and e-commerce segments of business with association with Tata Sky, Airtel, ICICI Bank, RBL, Dish TV, and Reliance BIG TV to name a few.

     

    Speaking on the occasion of the company’s 10th anniversary, Himanshoo Patil, Chief Executive Officer, EPRS-BuySmart, said, “EPRS-BuySmart was established with a view of revolutionizing the digital distribution and payment industry and help service providers reach out to all corners of the country and enable SMEs/entrepreneurs to offers consumer services at their retail points. I am glad that in these 10 years we have been able to come up as the catalyst of growth, prosperity and empowerment for the bottom of the pyramid population as well for the small business owners. It is encouraging to see that what EPRS-BuySmart is doing is in line with the current agenda of our nation’s leadership. We look forward to taking this forward in building a stronger brand over the next decade!”

     

    The company’s proposition to enable product sales on demand, at 2.5 lakh retail points across the nation is unique and unmatched, thus allowing the manufacturers and brands to save 20% on their cost in reaching out to end customers in a quick, economical and effective way.

     

    Services based on cutting-edge technology have helped create opportunities and employment for retailers at the bottom of the pyramid while exposing Indians at every corner of the country to mainstream services and products. EPRS BuySmart looks to further its vision by investing in their technology to offer a larger bouquet of products in the future.

  • Revamp the Dominant News Pattern through India 24X7 Kya Khabar Hai!

    Revamp the Dominant News Pattern through India 24X7 Kya Khabar Hai!

    MUMBAI: India 24×7 ushers in a breadth of fresh air, revamping the dominant pattern of Indian News channel and bringing Hope amidst apparently gloomy happening. India 24X7 a national Hindi ‘Free To Air (FTA)’ news Channel is going to start operations in Indian domain from October 24, 2015.

     

    To cut the morass of market, the channel aims to serve family entertainment, healthy viewing and distinctive news to upgrade its viewers to make informed choices rather than only news. To draw fringe audience on to the channel, anchors will play a key role. Their personality, styling and reliability will determine which audiences find resonance with the brand.

     

     While the news genre is traditionally seen as largely an individual viewing space, India 24×7 wishes to create a family appointment viewing experience. It will attract different age groups and different gender skews. It will also address viewers who are young in terms of mindset and shared value.

     

    Channel Editor Vasindra Mishra said, “India 24X7 will choose clarity over aggression, Jankari over sensationalism. It endeavours to offer ‘distinctive news’ as opposed to breaking news, or sensational news. With our family viewing objective, the flavour of coverage will focus on the positive side of every story and also enliven us through its entertainment quotient.”

     

    Mishra went on to add, “If you look at existing news programmes, you will find that majority of the news channels are busy proliferating negativity in the society as if there is no hope available for them. But, India 24X7 believes in hope. We will try to fish out hope even from the tragic incidents.”

     

    Traditionally, news genre targets male 35+ audiences, but India 24×7 is young at heart through the presentation of its content.  The channel will work on inventory of 12 mins per hour giving more content and news to the viewers that brings knowledge and empowers them.

     

    The channel is available on major DTH platforms and local cable networks like Dish TV, Airtel, Tata Sky, DD Free Dish, Siti Cable, Fastway, Digi Cable, DEN, Hathway, In Cable, GTPL and other local cable networks.

  • Wired Broadband: ACT continues to lead growth, Airtel adds 40K subscribers

    Wired Broadband: ACT continues to lead growth, Airtel adds 40K subscribers

    BENGALURU: ACT (Atria Convergence Technologies) continues to lead the wired broadband growth in calendar year 2015 with 1.6 lakh subscriber additions from 31 January, 2015 until 31 August, 2015. The latest numbers disclosed by The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as on 31 August, 2015 reveal that the total number of wired broadband subscribers in India stood at 160 lakhs. Hence 6.8 lakh subscribers were added between 31 December, 2014 and 31 August, 2015, and 1.6 lakh subscribers were added in August 2015.

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

    (2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.47 million subscribers for You BB for July-2015 would be granular to the nearest 10,000. While percentages perforce have been mentioned up to the 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.

    While the pecking order remains the same with the top three – Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Bharati Airtel (Airtel) and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL) also providing voice (telephone) services and many of their wired internet customers use both services – voice and data. The big three are followed by ACT and You Broadband India.

    ACT still continues to lead the growth in wired broadband subscriptions with a net addition of 20,000 subscribers in August 2015, taking its tally to 1.6 lakh subscribers (23.53 per cent of the all India additions) added since 31 December, 2014. ACT’s contribution to the all India additions to subscriber numbers in August was therefore 12.5 per cent. Hence ACT’s market share in the wired internet space in India improved by eight basis points to 4.81 per cent in August 2015 as compared to 4.73 in July-2015

    However, telecom major Bharti Airtel is swiftly closing the gap. The behemoth added 40,000 wired internet subscribers or 25 per cent of the all India additions in August 2015, taking its tally to 1.3 lakh subscribers (19.12 per cent of the all India additions) added between 31 December, 2014 and 31 August, 2015.  Airtel’s market share improved 16 basis points to 9.63 per cent in August 2015 as compared to 9.47 per cent in July 2015.

    You Broadband added 10,000 or 6.25 per cent of the all India wired broadband subscribers added in August 2015, taking its tally to 4.8 lakh subscribers until 31 August, 2015, and a net addition of 60,000 subscribers (8.82 per cent of the all India additions) since 31 December, 2014. You Broadband’s market share has improved by three basis points to three per cent in August 2015 as compared to the 2.97 per cent in July 2015.

    The public sector BSNL and MTNL subscription numbers are same as the numbers reported for July 2015, and hence there appears to be no net growth in wired broadband subscribers on their part. However, since the overall market size is increasing, their market share has declined even further. BSNL had a market share of 62 per cent, down by 63 basis points as compared to July 2015, while MTNL lost seven basis points to reach a market share of 7.06 per cent as compared to 7.13 per cent in July 2015. As on 31 December, 2014, BSNL had a market share of 65.14 per cent, while MTNL had a market share of 7.38 per cent.

    Please refer to the figure below:

  • Star Gold to premiere ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ in 4K on DTH

    Star Gold to premiere ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ in 4K on DTH

    MUMBAI: Breaking new ground every now and then in the television space, Star India is yet again taking the lead by premiering the Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan in 4K on three direct-to-home (DTH) platforms.

     

    Bajrangi Bhaijaan will be the first Hindi movie to be premiered in 4K on Tata Sky, Videocon and Airtel DTH’s Star Gold 4K channel. This also marks the launch of the Star Gold 4K service, which is especially delivered for the film premiere. However, it will be available only for two days (10 & 11 October) on the three DTH platforms.

     

    Along with Star Gold 4K, the movie will also be simulcast on the Star Gold HD and SD on 11 October, 2015 at 12.30 pm.

     

    With the service, the channel aims to provide its viewers a superlative viewing experience of the film. As a build up to the 4K premiere, the channel will showcase specially created promos and short format content videos in the same service. The content will be delivered in the same way as Video On Demand content is housed by the respective DTH operators.

  • Vodafone to launch 4G services in Kerala by December 2015

    Vodafone to launch 4G services in Kerala by December 2015

    MUMBAI: The Indian telecom sector is gearing up for the  4G wave. After Reliance Jio and Airtel’s plans to launch the same, now Vodafone India is all set to  launch its 4G services in Kerala by end of December 2015.

     

    Important centres including Kochi, Trivandrum and Kozhikode will be part of the first wave of the 4G roll-out, which will be launched across the circle in a phased manner.

     

    Testing of 4G services has commenced successfully. With some of the latest technological developments on the anvil, Vodafone is building robust and resilient network architecture with a strong backup to support the volumes and need for speed from customers.

     

    In addition, to offer its 3G customers a faster, smarter and better experience, Vodafone has taken several measures over the last few months. This includes making significant investments and upgrading its own network plus modernising the radio network and switching systems to deliver a new enhanced 3G experience.

     

    In addition, charging platforms have also been upgraded to facilitate a wider bouquet of products and services.

     

    Further, Vodafone is investing heavily into high capacity Fibre to significantly increase the internet connectivity to the rest of the world, which will benefit all its data subscribers. Kerala is a significant and key focus market for Vodafone India.

     

    With around 15 per cent of data revenues, it is one of the top data markets for Vodafone in India and is growing at over 80 per cent YoY, exceeding the pace of growth of the previous year. 

     

    Vodafone India business head Kerala Abhijit Kishore said, “This is an important phase for Vodafone in Kerala and our customers have a lot to look forward to. We are excited to launch our new 4G services in the superior 1800 MHz band and also provide a faster and enhanced 3G experience for our customers.”

     

    He added, “Having launched 4G services in several countries, Vodafone has the requisite expertise and experience to ensure that its service in Kerala will be best in class. We will continue to pursue our customer centric strategy of continuing to meet their evolving needs for better and smarter connectivity for both voice and data.”

     

    In the first six months of the current financial year, Vodafone has already invested more than Rs 350 crores in Kerala towards its network upgradation.

  • India early adapter of new technology but not IPTV: Dataxis

    India early adapter of new technology but not IPTV: Dataxis

    NEW DELHI: India stands out as an early adapter of latest technology despite being a price sensitive market, according to a Dataxis Research report.

     

    While on the one hand, India has the highest DTH subscribers as well as HDTV subscribers, on the other, public sector companies MTNL and BSNL have given up their hopes on IPTV. Airtel, ACT and Reliance are retaining the service only in few circles.

     

    India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the three countries with active IPTV subscriber base in the SAARC region.

     

    IPTV is still evolving and is not widely accepted as a pay-TV model by SAARC countries. The total active IPTV subscriber base in SAARC (adding these three countries) will be around 270,000+.

     

    Sri Lanka’s IPTV subscriber base contributes to nearly 48 per cent of the overall SAARC IPTV subscribers, followed by Pakistan and India with about 33 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

     

    Sri Lanka and Pakistan are showing high interest in pushing IPTV. On the other hand, Nepal’s internet service providers are planning to launch commercial IPTV services by the end of 2015.

     

    Meanwhile, the video markets of 12 East Asia Pacific countries tracked by Dataxis are forecast to generate total digital video revenues of $4.31 billion in 2017 – surpassing the physical video market for the first time driven by fast-growing, high-speed broadband penetration.

     

    APAC Video Market 2015 analyses the transformation of the video market across the 12 countries covered over the period 2007-18, including physical and digital video unit sales, rentals, revenues and forecasts, as well as profiling each market and the individual digital video services available.

     

    The four main markets in the region (Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea) together accounted for about 96 per cent of total digital and physical video revenues end-2014, with Australia and Japan alone generating about $5.4 billion in physical video revenues, representing more than 90 per cent of total physical revenues across the region.

     

    However, South East Asia is plagued by piracy and the official physical video market is almost negligible. Unauthorised CDs, VCDs, DVDs and CD ROMs proliferate due to the lack of affordable digital content and low disposable incomes. Indonesia, for example, had 5.75 million Pay-TV subscribers by end-2014, but only two Pay-TV players offered VOD services and Dataxis estimates that just 1.5 per cent of Indonesian TV households will be VOD-enabled by 2018.