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Tag: Bharti Airtel

  • Hathway leads the way in wireline net subs addition in Q3

    Hathway leads the way in wireline net subs addition in Q3

    BENGALURU: Over the past few years, multi-system operators, or MSOs, and cable television operators have been trying to enhance revenue by offering broadband internet services riding piggyback on their cable TV network wires. The second largest—considering that Atria Convergence Technologies is also an MSO and has far more broadband subscribers— cable television-wired broadband internet services provider, Hathway Cable & Datacom Services Ltd (Hathway) added more subscribers than any other wired internet service provider between October 2017 and December 2017. Going by data provided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Hathway added 60,000 subscribers in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 (FY 2018) or the last quarter of calendar year 2017 (CY-2107). The TRAI report indicated that Hathway added 40,000 subscribers in Dec-17, the highest by any of top five wireline broadband internet services providers in the country. Since Sep-17 Hathway is the fifth largest wired broadband internet services provider in India.

    In its investor presentation, the now pure broadband internet services provider, Hathway, says that it added net 50,000 wireline broadband internet subscribers in Q3 2018. In the same investor presentation, Hathway claims that it has added 1.5 lakh broadband internet subscribers in CY-17–its subscriber base grew from 6 lakh at the end of December 2016 to 7.5 lakh as on 31 December 2018. TRAI data pegs Hathway’s subscriber base at 7.3 lakh as on the same date.

    It may be noted that both ACT and Hathway started off as MSOs, but now their core business focus is on wireline broadband internet services. In the case of Hathway, after restructuring, it is now a pure wired broad internet services provider, with its cable TV operations now under Hathway Digital Pvt Ltd. While ACT has continued to service its existing cable TV subscribers in the limited territory that it operates – South India mostly – its wireline broadband internet subscriber base has grown quite remarkably notwithstanding its geographical limitations. ACT added 1.6 lakh wireline broadband internet subscribers in CY-17 and 40,000 in Q3 2018. In Dec-17, ACT added 10,000 wireline broadband internet subscribers. ACT is the third largest wired broadband internet service providers in terms of number of subscribers in India with a subscriber base of 12.8 lakh. ACT is probably the largest private wireline broadband internet services provider in South India.

    TRAI provides data in units of million up to 2 fractions and hence the subscription numbers mentioned in this report are accurate to the nearest 10,000.

    The largest wireline broadband internet services provider in the country – the public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) lost 5.7 lakh wireline broadband internet subscribers in CY-17 and 1.6 lakh in Q3-2018. In Dec-17, the public sector internet and telephony services provider bled 50,000 subscribers. It closed CY-17 or Dec-17 with a wired broadband internet subscriber base of 93.8 lakh.

    Indian telephone major Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) is the second largest wired broadband internet services provider in India – it closed Dec-17 with 21.5 lakh subscribers. Airtel added 1.1 lakh wired broadband internet subscribers in CY-17, 30,000 in Q3-2018 and 10,000 in Dec-17.

    The public sector Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL) was once the third largest wired broadband internet services providers in the country, until it was replaced by ACT. MTNL lost 1.3 lakh wired broadband internet subscribers in CY-17, lost 40,000 subscribers in Q3 2018 and lost 10,000 subscribers in Dec-17. The company closed CY-17 with a wired broadband internet subscriber base of 9.1 lakh.

    Overall, the wireline broadband subscriber base in India declined by 2.8 lakh in CY-17, by 1.8 lakh in Q3 2018, but increased by 10,000 in Dec-17. The share of subscribers of the top five wired broadband internet service providers fell from 81.31 per cent as at the end of Dec-16 to 80.91 per cent at the end of Dec-17.

    The combined total number of subscribers of the top five broadband internet services in the country reduced by 3 lakh in CY-2017, reduced by 70,000 in Q3-2018 and remained the same in Dec-17 as in Nov-17 (144.5 lakh). It is quite obvious that the largest subscriber losses were by the public sector BSNL and MTNL. However, some MSOs such as Siti Networks Limited and regional player Ortel Communications had reported wireline broadband internet subscriber declines during CY-2017.

    Top 5 wireless broadband internet service providers

    As on 31 December 2017, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (16.009 crore) followed by Bharti Airtel (6.894 crore), Vodafone (5.243 crore), Idea Cellular (3.480 crore) and BSNL (1.257 crore).

    Overall broadband internet subscription

    A majority of the 36.287 crore internet subscribers in India subscribe to wireless internet services through mobile phones and dongles – the number grew from 33.24 crore in Nov-17 to 34.457 crore in Dec-17. Fixed wireless subscribers –  (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to-Point Radio & VSAT) declined to 4.4 lakh in Dec-17 from 4.5 lakh in Nov-17. As mentioned above, wired broadband internet subscribers grew by 10,000 from 178.5 lakh in Nov-17 to 178.6 lakh in Dec-17.

    The top five service providers constituted 93.80 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Dec-17. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (16.009 crore), Bharti Airtel (7.109 crore), Vodafone (5.244 crore), Idea Cellular (3.481 crore) and BSNL (2.195 crore).

    Other broadband internet service providers

    As also mentioned above, 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.

    Also Read :

    Nov 2017: Wireline internet bleeds subscribers

    Jio continues leading broadband subs addition while wireline internet loses subs in Oct

    RIL’s Rs 2.35 lakh crore investments in Jio start to payoff

  • Airtel picks Hotstar content for its customers

    Airtel picks Hotstar content for its customers

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel and Hotstar have announced a strategic partnership to bring digital content from the latter’s portfolio to Airtel customers. This will further expand Airtel TV app’s wide range of offerings and expand the footprint for Hotstar’s content across Airtel’s large mobile customer base.   

    Commenting on the partnership, Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan added, “Airtel has among the widest consumer footprints in India and with our expansive content library, comprising rich programming that can cater across age groups, geographies and interests, there are natural synergies and we are very excited about this partnership.”

    Wynk CEO Sameer Batra said, “We are delighted to have Hotstar onboard as a long term partner in our endeavour to build a world-class digital content ecosystem. Their rich content library will add immense value to our content play and add to the user experience. Airtel TV’s new version has received an extremely positive response from users and we will continue to bring exciting content and in-app innovations to delight them.”

    With the new partnership, Airtel TV now has access to one of the largest and most exciting digital content portfolios in India, with 350 plus Live TV channels and close to 10,000 popular movies and shows from India and abroad. Airtel has forged partnerships with all leading broadcasters and production houses to bring the best of content on a single platform and offer a compelling experience to customers.

    Hotstar’s library comprising over 100,000 hours of content, in nine languages will now be available to all Airtel customers for free through the Airtel TV app. This will include shows from 22 channels and over 3000 hit movies and shows.   

    All content on Airtel TV app is free for Airtel prepaid and postpaid customers on a promotional basis till June 2018.

    Also Read:

    BTVI to now bring live budget updates on Hotstar

    Airtel Digital TV revenue, PAT and EBITDA up in Q3 2018

  • Bharti Airtel gets regulatory nod to buy Millicom’s Rwanda ops

    Bharti Airtel gets regulatory nod to buy Millicom’s Rwanda ops

    MUMBAI: Telecommunications behemoth Bharti Airtel Ltd (Airtel) has received approval for the acquisition of Tigo Rwanda Ltd (Tigo Rwanda), a subsidiary of Millicom International Cellular SA (Millicom), from the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA).

    According to Airtel’s release to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the  merged  entity  will  have  the  largest  customer  base  in  Rwanda  with  5.9  million subscribers.  The combined networks of the two companies will serve customers with voice/data services, global roaming and mobile banking services. It will also have Rwanda’s largest sales and distribution network.

    “The merger will result in the only negative ebitda opco [operating company] joining other 13 positive ebitda opcos in Africa,” the release stated.

    On completion, the acquisition is expected to strengthen Airtel’s market position in Rwanda.

    With presence in 14 countries across Africa, Airtel is one of the largest telecom service providers on the continent in terms of geographical reach, and had close to 84 million customers at the end of quarter ended December 30, 2017.

    Also Read:

    Airtel Digital TV revenue, PAT and EBITDA up in Q3 2018

    Airtel to transfer 25% stake in DTH arm to Nettle

    Eros Digital ropes in former Google exec Ali Hussein as COO

  • Nov 2017: Wireline internet bleeds subscribers

    Nov 2017: Wireline internet bleeds subscribers

    BENGALURU: Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Infocomm Limited (Jio) closed the month of November 2017 (Nov-17, month ended 30 November 2017) with 152.08 million wireless broadband subscribers having added 6.12 million subscribers (grown by 4.19 percent). As per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data, the number of wireline broadband internet subscribers in India has declined 0.13 million from 17.98 million in Oct-17 to 17.85 million in Nov-17. This decline in wireline broadband internet subscribers is more than the 0.06 million decline in Oct-17 and the decline of 0.07 million subscribers in Sep-17.

    Overall broadband internet service providers

    The top five service providers constituted 92.92 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers (wired, mobile wireless, fixed wireless) at the end of Nov-17. These service providers were Jio (152.08 million), Bharti Airtel (69.38 million), Vodafone (50.16 million), Idea Cellular (32.90 million) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited or BSNL (21.37 million).

    Wireless broadband internet service providers

    The fastest growth rate in mobile wireless internet subscribers was by Idea Cellular – its subscriber base increased by 6.03 percent (grew 1.87 million) in Nov-17. Jio had the second fastest growth as per the numbers mentioned above followed by Bharti Airtel Limited that grew 3.77 percent (added 2.44 million subscribers) in Nov-17, followed by Vodafone India. Vodafone’s wireless internet subscribers grew 3.59 percent or by 1.74 million. With the exit of Reliance Infocomm due to restructuring, BSNL entered the top five wireless broadband internet list in Nov-17. The public sector telecom player had 11.94 million broadband internet subscribers at the end of Nov-17.

    Top five wireline broadband internet service providers

    As on 30 November 2017, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL (9.43 million), Airtel (2.14 million), Atria Convergence Technologies or ACT(1.27 million), Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited or MTNL (0.94 million) and Hathway Cable & Datacom (0.69 million). Airtel, ACT and Hathway gained 0.01 million subscribers each in Nov-17, while the public sector BSNL and MTNL lost 0.05 million and 0.2 million subscribers respectively.

    Overall, the combined subscriber base of the top five wireline broadband internet service providers lost 0.04 million subscribers in Nov-15. This means that the rest of the players besides the top five players lost another 0.09 million subscribers.

    Other broadband internet service providers

    MSOs and cable video service providers (LCOs) 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, it must be noted that some of these MSOs and LCOs could have lost subscribers in November 2017, considering the fact that the top five wired broadband internet services providers have lost only 0.04 million of the 0.13 million wireline internet subscribers in November 2017.

    Notes: (1) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.51 million (5.1 lakh) subscribers for You BB for Dec-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.

    Also Read:

    Jio continues leading broadband subs addition while wireline internet loses subs in Oct

    Wireline broadband subs base falls, overall broadband subs base grows

    Aug-17:Jio leads broadband subscriber growth, BSNL leads wireline subscriber decline

  • Jio continues leading broadband subs addition while wireline internet loses subs in Oct

    Jio continues leading broadband subs addition while wireline internet loses subs in Oct

    BENGALURU: Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani’s Reliance Infocomm Limited (Jio) closed the month with 145.96 million wireless broadband subscribers having added 7.34 million subscribers during October 2017. Since 1 January 2017, the new telecom behemoth has added 129.91 million subscribers between 1 January 2017 and 31 October 2017 according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). In terms of growth, however, Jio had to accede to third place–it grew by 5.30 percent as compared to 7.69 percent growth by the Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel Limited and 5.31 percent growth by Vodafone in October 2017.

    India’s wireline broadband internet subscriber base has been declining over the past few months. Overall, the number of wired broadband internet subscriber base declined by 0.33 percent month-on-month in October 2017 to 17.98 million from 18.04 million. Among the top-five wired broadband service providers, the three private players gained subscribers while the public sector service providers lost them.

    Overall broadband internet service providers

    The top-five service providers (across wired, mobile wireless and fixed wireless, such as Wi-fi, Wi-Max, point-to-point, radio, and V-Sat) constituted 92.17 percent share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of October 2017. These service providers were Jio (145.96 million), Bharti Airtel (66.92 million), Vodafone (48.42 million), Idea Cellular (31.03 million), and BSNL (21.21 million).

    Top-five wireless broadband internet service providers

    In October 2017, the wireless broadband internet subscriber base in India grew by 15.34 million. Jio numbers have been mentioned above. Airtel reported the second largest addition of wireless subscribers in the month with 4.63 million additions to reach a subscriber base of 64.8 million. Vodafone added 2.44 million subscribers in the month under review and reached a subscriber base of 48.41 million followed by Idea Cellular which added 1.42 million subscribers with a subscriber base of 31.03 million as on 31 October. Anil Dhirubhai Ambani-led Reliance Communications Limited (RCom) had a stable wireless broadband subscriber base in October 2017 of 8.98 million.

    According to Trai data, as on 31 October 2017, the top-five wireless broadband service providers were Jio (145.96 million), Bharti Airtel (64.80 million), Vodafone (48.41 million), Idea Cellular (31.03 million), and Reliance Communications (8.98 million).

    Top-five wireline broadband internet service providers

    As on 31 October 2017, the top-five wired broadband service providers were BSNL (9.48 million), Airtel (2.13 million), Atria Convergence Technologies or ACT(1.26 million), MTNL (0.94 million), and Hathway Cable & Datacom (0.68 million). As mentioned above, Airtel, ACT and Hathway gained 0.01 million, 0.02 million and 0.01 million subscribers, respectively, in October 2017 while BSNL and MTNL lost 0.06 million and 0.1 million subscribers, respectively.

    Other broadband internet service providers

    MSOs and (LCOs) or cable video service providers also offer 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, it must be noted that some of these MSOs and LCOs could have lost subscribers in October 2017 considering that the top-five wired broadband internet services providers have lost only 0.03 million of the 0.06 million wireline internet subscribers in during the month.

  • Airtel TV valuation at $1.75 bn as Warburg Pincus picks up 20% stake

    Airtel TV valuation at $1.75 bn as Warburg Pincus picks up 20% stake

    MUMBAI: Confidence in the TV distribution sector seems to be returning, the OTT euphoria notwithstanding. Bharti Airtel today announced that it has struck a deal with Warburg Pincus under which an affiliate of the global private equity firm will acquire a 20 per cent equity stake in its DTH arm which operates under Bharti Telemedia Ltd.

    The cost of the acquisition: $350 million. 15 per cent of this will be offloaded by Bharti Airtel while the remaining five per cent will come from another affiliate of India’s largest telecom operator.

    Bharti Telemedia has 14 million subscribers for its DTH service under the Airtel TV brand which places it among the top three players in India, after Dish TV-Videocon and Tata Sky. The other players in the satellite TV operating space are FTA service FreeDish – run by pubcaster Doordarshan and Sun Direct which is operated by south Indian media powerhouse Sun TV network.

    In the year ending 31 March 2017, Airtel TV had average revenues per user per month of Rs 231 and it reported overall revenues of Rs 3430.6 crore for the period. In Q2 ended 30 September 2017, it turned out a top line of Rs 936.9 crore.

    Bharti Airtel had roped in former Mondelez vet Sunil Taldar in December 2016 as CEO & director DTH and a member of the company’s board with a direct reporting line to the company’s MD & CEO-south Asia Gopal Vittal. He had then replaced Shashi Arora who had run the DTH unit for five years before being mandated to run its payments bank.

    Airtel Digital TV has 1,500 partners all over India with 158,000 recharge points in 630 districts.

    The acquisition price of $350 million values Airtel’s DTH arm at $1.75 billion, which is by no means something to sniff at in this sector. Dish TV-Videocon d2h had a valuation of $2.7 billion at the time of the merger announcement of the two operators a year and a half ago.

    What attracted Warburg Pincus to invest in Airtel’s DTH business? Its India managing director and co-head Vishal Mahadevia explains, “The Indian digital TV market is expanding rapidly and we believe Airtel DTH is well positioned to capitalise on the incremental growth in digitisation in tier 3 and tier 4 towns and rural areas. We look forward to working with Sunil Bharti Mittal and Bharti group again after our successful partnership years ago and we look forward to supporting the management team in the next phase of the company’s growth.”

  • Broadband: Jio leads wireless; Hathway enters top-five list

    Broadband: Jio leads wireless; Hathway enters top-five list

    BENGALURU: Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Jio) continued expanding its subscriber base one year after launch as per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data for September 2017 (Sep-17, as on 30 September 2017, month under review). The wireless broadband internet subscriber base in India grew by 8.41 million to which Jio added 70 percent or 5.94 million subscribers during the month.

    The heavily indebted Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications Limited (RCom), which will shut voice call services from 1 December 2017, continued to lose wireless broadband internet subscribers in Sep-17. RCom lost 1.89 million subscribers during the period under review.

    In the meantime, the wireline broadband internet subscriber base in the country continued the decline that commenced in July-17. Wireline broadband internet subscriber base in India fell by 0.106 million in September 2017 to 18.04 million from 18.11 million at the end of August 2017.

    Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited (Hathway) entered the list of top five wireline broadband internet service providers in the country at fifth place with an internet subscriber base of 0.67 million. It displaced You Broadband which had a subscriber base of 0.66 million as on 31 August 2017.

    Among the top five wireline broadband services providers in the country from the August 2017 list, only Bharati Airtel (Airtel) which is ranked second added 0.01 million subscribers to reach wireline internet subscriber bases of 2.12 million. The third largest wireline internet player in India and probably the largest private sector player in South India- Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT) reported no change in its August 2017 internet subscriber base of 1.24 million.

    The fall in wireline internet subscribers was once again led by the public sector government telecom companies – Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL). The former lost 0.06 million subscribers, while the latter lost 0.01 million in September 2017. The largest wireline internet player in terms of subscribers, BSNL, closed September 2017 with a wireline internet subscriber base of 9.54 million, while its smaller public sector peer closed the month with a subscriber base of 0.95 million. MTNL is the fourth largest wireline internet services provider in the country in terms of subscriber base.

    Overall broadband internet service providers

    The top five broadband service providers (wireless and wireline) constituted 91.64 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Sep-17. These service providers were Jio (138.62 million), Airtel (62.29 million), Vodafone (45.98 million), Idea Cellular (29.61 million) and BSNL (21.24 million).

    Top five wireless broadband internet service providers

    As on 30 September 2017, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Jio (138.62 million), Airtel (60.17 million), Vodafone (45.97 million), Idea Cellular (29.61 million) and Reliance Communications (8.98 million).

    After Jio, Vodafone added the second largest number of wireless subscribers – 2.42 million or 28.5 percent of the total subscribers added in September 2017. Airtel added 21.4 million or the third largest number of wireless subscribers (25.2 percent while Idea cellular added 0.15 million wireless internet subscribers.

    Other broadband internet service providers

    Multi-system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (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, it must be noted that some of these MSOs and LCOs could have lost subscribers in September 2017, considering the fact that the top five wired broadband internet services providers have lost only 0.05 million of the 0.106 million wireline internet subscribers in September 2017.

  • Airtel & Karbonn launch affordable smartphones for aspiring India

    Airtel & Karbonn launch affordable smartphones for aspiring India

    MUMBAI: In order to strengthen its presence in the ongoing telecom battle, Bharti Airtel will launch two new Android-powered 4G smartphones in partnership with Karbonn Mobiles.

    Airtel has also tied-up with Amazon to sell the handsets online. One handset, the A40 Indian, has become available on Amazon from 16 November, A1 Indian and A41 Power will be available on the platform starting next week.

    Telco-handset tie-up is a common practice in the West but the phenomenon has hit the Indian market only this year. For telecom companies, such strategic tie-ups with India handset makers may help them take on Reliance Jio. By August 2017, Jio claimed to have 133 million subscribers. At September end, Bharti Airtel has over 282 million subscribers while Vodafone and Idea had 207 million and 190 million subscribers respectively.

    Domestic handset maker Micromax, on Wednesday, said it was tying up with Vodafone India to offer a smartphone at Rs 999 if the buyer retains the device for three years. Karbonn had formed a similar partnership with Bharti Airtel for its previous smart feature phone A40, priced at Rs 1399 when Reliance Jio launched a smart feature phone at a starting price of Rs 1500.

    Data from Counterpoint Research show that both Micromax and Karbonn have lost market share in the handset category over the past six quarters while Chinese firms Intel and Xiaomi have climbed the charts. The market share of Micromax and Karbonn in India fell to 7.1 per cent and 3.2 per cent respectively, in the April-June quarter this year from 10.2 per cent and 6 per cent in July-September the previous year.

    The launch is part of Airtel’s ‘Mera Pehla Smartphone’ initiative, which is aimed at enabling every Indian to buy a 4G smartphone and get on the digital superhighway. The handsets come bundled with a monthly pack of Rs 169 from Airtel.

    The A1 Indian 4G smartphone will be available at Rs 1799 which otherwise would cost Rs 4390 and the A41 Power at Rs 1849 with an MRP of Rs 4290. The 4G smartphones, which are Google certified, run on the latest Android 7.0 Nougat OS and offer full access to all apps on Google Play Store, including YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp. In addition, both smartphones come preloaded with MyAirtel App, Airtel TV and Wynk Music.

    Bharti Airtel director of consumer business and CMO Raj Pudipeddi said, “We are delighted to deepen our partnership with Karbonn to fulfil the smartphone aspirations of India. We saw very strong demand for our first offer under the ‘Mera Pehla Smartphone’ initiative, which validates the broad appeal of this innovative proposition.”

    Karbonn Mobiles MD Pardeep Jain added, “The immense response we got for our offer with Airtel helped us add 70 per cent new feature phone users to our existing portfolio. We feel that this partnership will be even more fruitful as it brings more competitively priced 4G smartphones to the market, especially with Amazon India on board.”

  • Aug-17:Jio leads broadband subscriber growth, BSNL leads wireline subscriber decline

    Aug-17:Jio leads broadband subscriber growth, BSNL leads wireline subscriber decline

    BENGALURU: India’s broadband subscriber base grew 1.81 percent in the month of August 2017 (Aug-17) by 5.61 million to 316.48 million from 310.87 million at the end of July 2017 (Jul-17). The growth was led by the Mukesh Ambani-led unstoppable juggernaut Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Jio), which added 4.1 million new subscribers in August 2017 to take its subscriber base to a staggering 132.68 million. At the same time, the government’s Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) reported a loss of 60,000 wireline internet subscribers – to take its wireline subscriber base to 9.60 million from 9.66 million in the previous month. Overall, wireless subscriber numbers grew, while wireline and fixed wireless subscriber numbers continued to decline in Aug-17 as compared to the numbers reported for Jul-17.

    As per data published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the top  five  service  broadband internet service providers  (across all platforms – wireless, wireline, fixed wireless (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to- Point Radio & VSAT) constituted 90.85 percent market  share  of  the  total  broadband  subscribers  at  the  end  of  Aug-17. These  service  providers  were  Jio (132.68  million),  Bharti  Airtel  (60.14  million), Vodafone (43.56 million), Idea Cellular (29.46 million) and BSNL  (21.69 million).

    Wireless Broadband Internet Subscribers

    As mentioned above, Jio still continued to lead growth in wireless broadband internet subscribers in the country eleven months after its commercial launch on 5 September 2016. Jio has added 60.52 million subscribers in calendar year 2017 (CY-17) until Aug-17.

    The top five wireless broadband service providers were Jio (132.68 million), Bharti Airtel (58.03 million), Vodafone (43.55 million), Idea Cellular (29.46 million) and Reliance Communications (10.87 million).

    Wired Broadband Internet Subscribers

    The top five wired broadband srvice providers were BSNL (9.60 million), Bharti Airtel (2.11 million), Atria Convergence Technologies or ACT (1.24 million), MTNL (0.96 million) and You Broadband (0.66 million).

    ACT Broadband, probably the largest private wired internet service player in South India, continued to lead subscriber acquisitions in calendar year 2017 (CY-17, since 31 December 2016 or Dec-16) to Aug-17 with the addition of about 0.12 million broadband internet subscribers. Airtel has added around 70,000 wireline broadband internet service providers in CY-17 until Aug-17.

    As per TRAI data, the broadband wireline subscriber base in India declined in Aug-17 to 18.10 million from 18.40 million in Jul-17. Among the top five wireline broadband internet services providers in the country, BSNL and MTNL lost 60,000 and 10,000 subscribers respectively in the month of Aug-17. Airtel, the second largest wireline broadband internet player and ACT, reported a gain of 10,000 subscribers each and You Broadband reported a steady subscriber base of 0.66 million. This implies that the other wireline broadband internet service providers in the country besides those mentioned above gained 0.2 million subscribers in the month of Aug-17. Amongst the other wireline broadband internet service providers are multi-system operators and local cable operators that provide internet services through their video cables using technology that includes various versions of DOCSIS technology.

  • Airtel Digital and LG tie up, redefine home entertainment

    Airtel Digital and LG tie up, redefine home entertainment

    MUMBAI: Popular brands are coming together to share a symbiotic relationship.

    Airtel Digital TV, the DTH arm of Bharti Airtel, and LG Electronics India have announced an exclusive partnership to redefine home entertainment experience by bringing the best of online and satellite TV content to customers.

    Valid till 31 October, 2017 in select cities, on purchase of a new Internet TV along with the LG panel TV, customers can enjoy benefits of up to 25 per cent.

    Customers purchasing 43-inch and above LG UHD or OLED panel TV, will now be able to add to their ultra high-definition TV experience with Airtel Internet TV – India’s first 4K hybrid STB that offers online content plus over 500 TV channels.

    Airtel ‘Internet TV’ comes with inbuilt-Wi-Fi receiver, Bluetooth based remote control and is integrated with Google voice search feature. Customers can discover their favourite content by simply speaking into the remote and choose from a variety of content sources.

    Airtel ‘Internet TV’ STB enables live TV shows to be paused, recorded or even rewind on connected USB-drive (external HDD). Internet TV supports many digital output ports for consumers to enjoy Dolby ATMOS experience. Inbuilt Bluetooth allows users to connect their speakers or Bluetooth headsets for best-in-class experience.

    Airtel Internet TV requires a broadband or a 4G hotspot connection with a minimum recommended speed of 4 Mbps. Airtel Internet TV customers can also get additional 25GB with their Airtel Broadband plans via MyAirtel App.