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Tag: broadband

  • TRAI report: Broadband sector saw growth of 36.52% in 2019

    TRAI report: Broadband sector saw growth of 36.52% in 2019

    MUMBAI: TRAI in its annual report has stated that in the last ten years a substantial number of HD pay television channels have been launched by broadcasters. As on 31 March 2019, there are a total of 99 operational HD channels.

    Let’s have look at detailed description below:

    Internet and Broadband subscribers

    The Internet subscriber base in the country as on 31 March 2019 was 636.73 million in comparison to 493.96 million in March 2018. The total broadband subscriber base of the country as on 31 March 2019 stood at 563.31 million whereas it was 412.60 million as of 31 March 2018.

    The broadcasting and cable TV services sector and FM Radio services continue to exhibit growth over the two decades. Equivalent to the growth in the subscriber base, the number of platforms & service providers has also increased. The broadcasting sector comprises of cable TV services, DTH services, terrestrial TV services, HITS services, IPTV services, and broadcast radio services.

    Satellite TV channels

    Currently, there are 902 private satellite TV channels permitted by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting by the end of the financial year 2018-19, out of which, 229 are SD pay-TV channels and 99 are HD Pay TV channels. The number of Standard Definition (SD) pay-TV channels have grown from 147 in the year 2010 to 229 in 2019.

    DTH Services

    Ever since its introduction in the year 2003, Indian DTH service has displayed a phenomenal growth. DTH has attained a net active subscriber base of around 72.44 million. At the end of March 2019, there are 5 pay DTH service providers catering to this subscriber base. The database rose to 72.44 in 2019 as compared to 67.53 in 2018.

    Apart from an increase in the availability of conventional TV channels, the pay DTH operators have continued to add several innovative offerings and value-added services (VAS) such as movie-on-demand, gaming, shopping, education etc.

    Cable TV

    The Cable TV segment is the largest of the TV service sector with an estimated subscriber base of around 103 million subscribers

     As per the statistics, the pay TV universe consists of around 103 million Cable TV subscribers, 72.44 million active DTH subscribers and 1.5 million HITS subscribers. Where the terrestrial TV network of Doordarshan alone covers about 92 per cent of India’s population connected via a vast network of terrestrial transmitters. The TV broadcasting sector includes 350 broadcasters, out of which, 39 are pay broadcasters.

     Talking about the television distribution side there are 1469 Multi-System Operators (MSOs) coming under the wings with Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), an estimated number of 60,000 cable operators, 5 pay DTH operators, 2 HITS operators, and a few IPTV operators. Apart from this public service broadcaster-Doordarshan, also provides a free-to-air DTH service in India.

  • VBS 2019: Industry stalwarts discuss NTO second phase issues

    VBS 2019: Industry stalwarts discuss NTO second phase issues

    MUMBAI: The sixteenth edition of the Video and Broadband Summit (VBS) organised by Indiantelevision.com has brought together industry doyens under one roof to discuss and understand the impact of the new tariff order (NTO) on the television broadcasting and distribution sector. VBS 2019 marked the presence of leaders from DTH, cable and broadband, broadcast, regulatory bodies and technology segments to discuss the state of the industry, key issues and finding solutions.

    Indiantelevision.com CEO, founder and editor-in-chief set the tone for the day with his welcome speech. "It is the best time for TV industry today. We are in the midst of uncertain times but uncertain times bring a lot of opportunities to build the business and explore the new way of building the cable-TV industry." He also emphasised on initiating a discussion on best practices, case studies on better execution and way forward towards a healthy television ecosystem.  

    The one-day conference began with a special address by TRAI advisor Arvind Kumar. He briefed the audience on the reason behind releasing the consultation paper to review NTO within few months of the regulatory framework. He informed that the consultation paper is only to address some infirmities in the NTO and will not bring any fundamental changes to the regulatory framework.

    “Broadcasters should rest assured that the new consultation paper will not seek to decide their channel prices. The only objective of the new consultation paper is to open a debate on how the NTO is impacting the industry and to address some of the infirmities in the NTO. The main objective of the industry was transparency and to create a level-playing field for everyone. NTO has empowered the consumer by giving him choice,” he said.

    In a fireside chat with Anil Wanvari, JioFiber president Anuj Jain elaborated on the company's plan and partnership.  He says, "Cable is a global technology and our intent is not to bring disruption in the market but add value to the industry. We have to see that television and OTT complement each other and the value that we bring is broadband. With broadband, we bring OTT content and voice services. There is enough space for everyone, there is nothing called overlap. "

    The session was followed by BARC India’s presentation on ‘TV viewership trends-post NTO era’ by chief operating officer Romil Ramgarhia. 

    The first panel discussion of VBS 2019 focused on NTO-The future roadmap. The panel was moderated by Elara Capital VP- research analyst (media) Karan Taurani with panellists IndiaCast Media Distribution president Amit Arora, Star India Distribution distribution and international business president and head Gurjeev Singh Kapoor, Metro Cast Network India promoter Nagesh Narayandas Chhabria, The Remediation Company founder & partner Shyamala Venkatachalam ; IndusInd Media & Communications chief executive officer Vynsley Fernandes and GTPL Hathway vice president Yatin Gupta.

    The objective of the NTO was to bring transparency, freedom of choice and level playing field in the industry. The panellists shared their perspective on the impact of NTO on the media and entertainment ecosystem, pricing, bouquet and ala carte price, and recently released consultation paper to review NTO.  The panellists agreed that the dust of new tariff order has settled down but the NTO 2.0 period might impact pricing again. With the new consultation paper, Gupta expects that there would be price capping on bouquets and ala carte. 

    The next panel discussion highlighted the advertisers’ take on the dynamic pay-TV landscape and how AdEX is likely to fare going forward with more changes anticipated to NTO. The panel ‘The Advertisers’ View’ was moderated by Anil Wanvari. ITC Ltd head media and PR Jaikishin Chhaproo, Havas Media Group West & South managing partner Kunal Jamuar, Godrej Consumer Products VP and head media services Subha Sreenivasan Iyer and Madison Media vice president Vandana Ramkrishna were the panellists.

    After that, Broadpeak business development manager Hervé Creff gave a presentation on ‘Keeping control of HDMI1 with Android TV operator Teir – the ‘super – aggregator’ approach’.

    The first half of VBS 2019 successfully ended with a panel discussion on ‘Transforming the sector to fuel growth’. Elara Capital VP research analyst (media) Karan Taurani, Shemaroo Entertainment chief operating officer Kranti Gada, BBC Global News South Asia distribution head Sunil Joshi and PwC India media, entertainment and sports advisory –partner and leader Raman Kalra were the panellists. The session was moderated by SBICAP Securities equity research head Rajiv Sharma.

    For more updates from post-lunch sessions stay tuned.

  • Airtel offers up to 1,000 GB free data on broadband plans

    Airtel offers up to 1,000 GB free data on broadband plans

    MUMBAI: After Jio announced its upcoming broadband plans, other players have also announced changes in their own. Airtel broadband is now offering its basic plan with 200GB additional data. The entertainment plan offers 500GB of additional data and the premium plan offers 1,000 GB of additional data that comes with a validity of six months.

    Airtel V-Fiber Broadband plans offer up to 1,000 GB of additional data on three of its broadband plans in India. Additional data is available on its basic, entertainment and premium plans with a validity of six months. After the validity period, the telco will forfeit the promotional unused data. The offer is only valid in the circles wherein the Airtel V-Fiber plans are active.

    The Airtel basic plan is priced at Rs 799 and comes with additional 200GB data over and above its 100GB prescribed data. The promotional data comes with a validity of six months. The bundled plan offers up to 40Mbps speed, unlimited local and STD calls, and also Airtel Thanks benefits that include Airtel TV premium subscription.

    The Airtel Entertainment plan is available at Rs 1,099 and comes with 500GB additional data valid for six months. The plan originally offers 300GB data of high-speed data with speeds up to 100Mbps. Additionally, subscribers also get unlimited local and STD calls, and a free Amazon Prime subscription for one year, Netflix subscription for three months, Zee5 Premium subscription, and Airtel TV Premium subscription.

    Coming to the Airtel Premium plan priced at Rs 1,599, it comes with 1000GB of additional data valid for six months. The premium plan originally offers 600GB data with up to 300Mbps speed. Like the Entertainment plan, this plan also provides subscribers with unlimited local and STD calls, and Airtel Thanks benefits include Amazon Prime subscription, Netflix subscription, Zee5 Premium subscription, and Airtel TV Premium subscription. The period of free subscription to Amazon Prime, Netflix and Zee5 in this plan is similar to that of the Entertainment plan.

  • Jio Fiber impact on multiplex business to be limited, will boost OTT

    Jio Fiber impact on multiplex business to be limited, will boost OTT

    MUMBAI: After revolutionising the mobile data use in the country, telecom giant Jio is now ready to turn around the fortune for the broadband sector in India. Jio Fiber is not only merely providing high-speed internet connection but it is bundling a number of offers and features like access to premium OTT services and the concurrent release of movies. The high-speed home broadband will definitely boost the over-the-top ecosystem but experts have mixed views on how it will impact theatres and multiplexes.

    At the 42nd annual general meeting of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), CMD Mukesh Ambani revealed 5 September as the date for the commercial launch of the much-awaited service. “Jio Fiber Services to be launched on commercial basis on 5 September 2019 – on the third anniversary of Jio’s launch. (We) plan to reach 20 million residences and 15 million business establishments in 1,600 towns,” the business tycoon announced.

    Industry veteran Paritosh Joshi pointed out that watching cinema is much more than just a question of consuming a few hours of content as it is an immersive experience. He also compared the arrival of the multiplex revolution in India about 15-20 years back which signalled a departure from basic movie experience. He added that multiplexes are trying to make experiences rich and interesting.

    “So in my opinion, theatrical exhibition business will not disappear merely because of cinema being released concurrently on digital media. Watching a film at home is different than in a
    cinema theatre where you get completely emerged in the movie experience. At some level it might even help the theatrical release because people who would not have had a chance otherwise to experience that film may sample it on their personal devices at home and then still want to really experience what the full thing is by going to the theatre,” Joshi added. Moreover, he also added that international studios operating in India may not agree for a concurrent window with Jio Fiber.

    Another veteran media analyst also agreed that multiplexes won’t be affected by Jio. He added that Indian audiences still like to go to the theatre for community viewing.

    PwC – Risk Assurance (Media, Entertainment & Sports) Managing Director Anand Punmiya said, “Getting movies at home on the day of release will be a boon for many, however going to multiplex & watching is considered "friends & family time" and there will still be takers for that as well. In fact, in recent past we experience reverse migration, wherein selective Cricket World Cup matches were exhibited in multiplexes, since multiplexes offers an enhanced viewing experience.”

    PVR Ltd also said in a statement that cinemas continue bringing people together to share a communal experience. This irreplaceable element, which is at the core of theatrical experience, continues to deliver a robust box office performance not just in a growing market such as India but also in the more matured markets such as the US, China, Europe, etc. where cinemas have regularly competed with many similar initiatives such as Netflix Original Movies.

    The company also added that for decades, theatrical release window has been a valuable model for exhibitors and producers alike. In India and globally, producers have respected the release windows and kept a sacrosanct gap between the theatrical release date and the date of release on all other platforms, i.e. DVD, DTH, TV, OTT, etc.

    "We would also like to point out that producers, distributors and multiplex owners in India have mutually agreed to an exclusive theatrical window of 8 weeks, between the theatrical release of a movie, and release on any other platform. This exclusive theatrical window is a model that is followed internationally, in order to ensure the robust financial viability of all the segments of the sector, and has been replicated in India," Inox said in a press release.

    Elara Capital vice president research Karan Taurani said that the Jio deal won’t have a big negative impact for multiplexes as the release of a movie in cinema is very important in order to get deals on digital and satellite. He also added that there are about 400 films released every year across genres and hence release of a few films directly on Jio won’t impact footfall.

    “Cinema-going is considered a family outing in India and we don’t see large budget films going for direct release on Jio. It will be limited to smaller films going directly on digital, as the economics of a big film doesn’t work for the same,” Taurani added.

    Keeping the mixed economy structure of Indian internet users, Jio Fiber’s plans have been fixed from 100 mbps speed to all the way up to 1 Gbps. The pricing will range between Rs 700 per month to Rs 10,000 per month. “Premium JioFiber customers will be able to watch movies in their living rooms the same day these movies are released in theatres,” Ambani said while revealing all the offers. Jio Fiber also comes bundled with a free subscription to premium OTT services.

    “Vodafone, Airtel, Jio are already bundling content from over-the-top platforms. It’s the sheer scale on which Jio operates and subscribers they may have that makes it more interesting for streaming service operators to deliver the product to broadband and mobile customers. One thing became clear last year – the telecom play is substantially data play and data play is all about entertainment content. The main use of data is consuming audio-visual entertainment content,” Joshi commented on Jio Fiber’s impact on the over-the-top ecosystem.

    Another analyst added that while the OTT ecosystem will definitely improve, the question is about how Jio wants to bundle the offering, which mainly depends on the pricing.

    Punmiya said, “There is a kind of "OTT War" which is in place for some time now and wherein every platform is engaged in creating unique and engaging content. While, OTT is "Content at Convenience" multiplexes offers a great viewership experience. Even if small and big screen are competing they will continue to thrive Indian markets for long given every platform have their ardent followers.”

    Balaji Telefilms’ management is also upbeat about the changes that Jio will bring. “We are looking upon this as a very positive development, it will help consumers access internet at a very high speed. We have seen previously when Jio was launched that Reliance has revolutionised this market and made internet accessible to the masses of India that fits very well with our strategy. Our content has been historically mass content, so all steps and measures taken to spread internet out at high speed like Jio Fiber will do is a positive move and a very positive development for us,” said Balaji Telefilms management in its earnings call.

  • Airtel plans special box for full converged entertainment & broadband

    Airtel plans special box for full converged entertainment & broadband

    MUMBAI: Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel is significantly upping its direct-to-home (DTH) and broadband business. The leading telecom player is looking at bringing a box which will offer a full converged entertainment as well as the capacity to deliver broadband. Although the timeline has been not revealed yet, the box is expected to be launched very soon.

    “One of the things we are looking at is to bring in a box, which will offer a full converged entertainment as well as the capacity to deliver broadband. This will happen soon and we are very excited that once we do that, it is a full converged play that we can potentially deliver across multiple spaces. There have been some concerns about cord cutting in the urban areas and metros. We have not seen any evidence of that yet,” Bharti Airtel India and South Asia managing director and chief executive officer Gopal Vittal said in an earnings call. 

    Airtel Digital TV saw net addition of 634K customers in the quarter. At the end of the first quarter, the DTH arm of Bharti Airtel had 16 million customers with a year-on-year growth of 9.4 per cent. The change in cable and broadcasting sector with the rollout of new tariff order has helped Airtel to grow with a lot of new subscribers coming in from the cable side.

    The company’s investments in FTTH pass deployment are now reaping benefits with an expansion in the base and an increase in ARPU as well after ten consecutive quarters of decline. The company is optimistic on the overall market opportunity and focusing on expansion of its fibre presence.

  • GTPL Hathway acquires SCOD18 Networking to expand footprint in Maharashtra

    GTPL Hathway acquires SCOD18 Networking to expand footprint in Maharashtra

    MUMBAI: Cable TV and broadband service provider GTPL Hathway has acquired 100 per cent shares of SCOD18 Networking Pvt Ltd on Monday. The company informed the exchanges about the acquisition in a filing on Tuesday.

    While the company has a strong presence in Gujarat, the acquisition has been done with an object of enhancing its footprint in neighboring state Maharashtra. SCOD18 which has now become wholly-owned subsidiary of GTPL Hathway, had a turnover of Rs 305.64 million as on 31 March.

    GTPL Hathway posted a net profit of Rs 29.4 crore for the quarter ended 30 June as against a net loss of Rs 28.1 crore in the trailing quarter ended 31 March. EBITDA was up 6 per cent at Rs 115.6 crore compared to Rs 103.6 crore in Q4 FY19.

  • Tata Sky revises pricing of broadband plans

    Tata Sky revises pricing of broadband plans

    MUMBAI: Direct-to-home operator Tata Sky has revised the pricing of its newly rolled out broadband plans. While the data plans were announced last August, latest plans come with more data on offer at lower prices.

    Tata Sky’s broadband service is initially available in 12 to 13 cities and high-speed data plans vary in the range of Rs 590 and going up to Rs 1,599 for one month. However, new plans are available in selected cities like Ahmedabad and Surat. In some cities like Delhi, the most affordable plan will cost a consumer Rs 999.

    Tata Sky has entered the market at a time when Reliance Jio is investing highly in less penetrated broadband sector. Moreover, there are other competetitors like Airtel, ACT Fibernet and Excitel  in the market.

  • Jio GigaFiber drops to third position in Netflix ISP Speed Index ranking for June 2019

    Jio GigaFiber drops to third position in Netflix ISP Speed Index ranking for June 2019

    MUMBAI: Reliance led broadband service Jio GigaFiber has dropped to third position as per Netflix ISP Speed Index rankings of June 2019 in India. Earlier it had a speed of 3.53 Mbps which has now dropped to 3.49 Mbps.

    7 Star Digital has been ranked as the fastest broadband service in the country with 3.54 Mbps, followed by Spectranet with 3.50 Mbps. Jio’s major rival Airtel broadband service has been placed in the fourth position with 3.35 Mbps.

    Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT) has acquired the fifth position with 3.24 Mbps of average speed, YouBroadband with 3.17 Mbps speed at sixth, Hathway with 2.97 Mbps at seventh, and D-VoiS at eighth spot with 2.97 Mbps speed.

    “The Netflix ISP Speed Index is a measure of prime time Netflix performance on particular ISPs (internet service providers) around the globe, and not a measure of overall performance for other services/data that may travel across the specific ISP network,” the streaming service said on its website.

  • GTPL cable TV business pushes revenue, profits up in Q1 2020

    GTPL cable TV business pushes revenue, profits up in Q1 2020

    BENGALURU: GTPL Hathway Ltd (GTPL) reported 31.9 percent growth in revenue for the quarter ended 30 June 2019 (Q1-2020, quarter or period under review) and almost three times the operating profit for its cable TV business (CATV business) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter Q1 2019. The company’s consolidated  revenue from operations for the quarter under review grew 50 percent year on year (y-o-y) while consolidated total income expanded 30.3 percent in Q1 2020 as compared to Q1 2019. Consolidated profit after tax more than doubled (grew 164.3 percent) to Rs 33.23 crore in Q1 2020 as compared to Rs 12.57 crore in Q1 2019.

    GTPL reported consolidated revenue from operations at Rs 445.47 crore in Q1 2020 as compared to Rs  296.91 crore in Q1 2019. Consolidated total income for the period was Rs 454.30 crore as compared to Rs 296.91 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter. CATV business revenue was Rs 344.16 crore in Q1 2020 as compared to Rs 260.93 crore in Q1 2-19. CATV business reported operating result of Rs 30.49 crore for the period under review as compared to Rs 10.17 crore for Q1 2019.

    The company’s internet services business (Ex-EPC Project numbers) revenue grew 9.2 percent to Rs 39.29 crore in Q1 2020 from Rs 35.98 crore in Q1 2019. The segment incurred a small loss of Rs 0.14 crore in Q2 2020 as compared to an operating profit of Rs 2.40 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter. The company had been awarded Package B of the prestigious Bharat Net Phase-II project from the Gujarat Fibre Grid Network Ltd under Digital India Initiative (EPC Project) last year. GTPL reported revenue of Rs 62.02 crore an operating profit of Rs 2.89 crore from the EPC Project.

    GTPL reported revenue (Ex EPC Project) of Rs 391.1 crore, which was 29 percent more y-o-y. The company says in an earnings release that its CATV subscription revenue increased 47 percent y-o-y to Rs 247.2 crore. EBITDA Ex EPC Project increased 32 percent y-o-y to Rs 110.3 crore. Ex EPC Project PAT doubled to Rs 26.6 crore.

    On the operational front, GTPL says that it has seeded 200,000 STBs and added 300,000 digital paying subscribers in Q1 2020. The company says that it had 97 lakh (9.7 million, 0.97 crore) digital paying subscribers as on 30 June 2019. Phase-wise seeding as on June 30, 2019 for Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 and Phase 4 were at 8.6 lakh (0.86 million, 0.086 crore); 22.6 lakh  (2.26 million, 0.226 crore); 30 lakh (3.00 million, 0.3 crore) and 35.8 lakh (3.58 million, 0.358 crore) respectively.

    Further, GTPL says that two thirds or 10,000 of the 15,000 new broadband internet subscribers were FTTX subscribers. Consumption per customer at 120 GB/month as on June 2019 was up from 38 GB/month in March 2017, or data consumption increased 3x over two years’ period.

    Company speak

    Commenting on performance, GTPL managing director Anirudhasinhji Jadeja said, “Q1FY20 was the first full quarter with New Tariff Order (NTO), which has led to significant growth in subscription revenue. Subscription revenue grew by 47percent on a y-o-y basis. Overall, our first quarter performance was in line with our expectation and we see our next three quarters equally exciting. With NTO being stabilised, our focus on taking FTTH to more and more homes, re-launching industry’s first dual service product ‘GTPL GIGAHD’ to convert current customers along with adding new customers and concurrently launching hybrid set top box will help us to converge linear TV viewing with OTT usage. We will further increase the pace of growth momentum towards CATV and broadband business in FY 2019 – 20.”

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by GTPL

    Consolidated total expenditure increased 42.7 percent during the quarter under review to Rs 403.99 crore from Rs 283.11 crore in Q1 2019. Pay channel cost in Q1 2020 increased 42.5 percent to Rs 180.17 crore from Rs 126.44 crore in the previous year. Other operational costs increased 2.7 percent to Rs 21.39 crore from Rs 20.83 crore.

    Employee benefits expense in Q1 2020 was almost flat (decreased 0.1 percent) to Rs 35.29 crore from Rs 35.32 crore in the correspond period of the previous fiscal. Finance costs reduced 20.7 percent during the querter under review to Rs 12.45 crore from Rs 15.70 crore. Other expenses in the period increased 29.8 percent to Rs 48.37 percent to Rs 37.26 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

  • Broadband internet subscriber additions small in April 2019

    Broadband internet subscriber additions small in April 2019

    BENGALURU: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data for the month ended 30 April 2019 (Apr-19, month under review) reveals that India’s broadband subscriber base grew by 86.4 lakh (8.64 million, 0.864 crore). This is only the fourth time over the past 15 months that less than 1 crore subscribers were added, the earlier occasions being for the month ended 31 August 2018 (34.1 lakh, 3.14 million 0.314 crore), 31 December 2018 (66.5 lakh, 6.65 million, 0.665 crore) and 30 April 2018 (71.9 lakh, 7.91 million, 0.791 crore).  It must be noted that TRAI indicates subscriber data in terms of millions  up to two decimal points, hence the granularity of subscriber data in this report is limited to 10,000.

    Growth in the country’s broadband internet subscriber base was led by mobile (phones and dongles), followed by growth in subscribers of Fixed wireless- WiFi, Wi Max, Point to Point, Radio, Vsat internet services. Wired broadband internet subscriber base saw a decline in Apr-19.

    As mentioned above, broadband internet subscribers grew by 86.4 lakh (8.64 million, 0.864 crore), or by 1.53 percent to 5,719.5 lakh (571.95 million, 57.195 crore) in Apr-19 as compared to 5,633.1 lakh (563.31 million, 56.331 crore) at the end of Mar-19. Mobile broadband internet subscribers increased by 78.8 lakh (7.88 million or 0.788 crore) in Apr-19 or 1.45 percent to 5,522.5 Lakh (552.25 million, 55.225 crore) from 5,443.7 lakh (544.37 million, 54.437 crore) in Mar-19. Wired broadband internet subscriber based declined by 0.04 percent or declined by about 10,000 to 184.1 lakh (18.41 million, 1.841 crore) in Apr-19 from 184.2 lakh (18.41 million or 1.841 crore) in Mar-19.  Subscribers of Fixed wireless- WiFi, Wi Max, Point to Point, Radio, Vsat internet services more than doubled (increased by 147.22 percent, 7.6 lakh or 0.76 million or 0.076 crore) during the period under review to 12.8 lakh (1.28 million, 0.128 crore) from 5.2 lakh (0.52 million or 0.052 crore) in the previous month Mar-19.

    The top five broadband internet service providers constituted 98.68 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Apr-19. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd or Jio  which had 3,148.1 lakh (314.81 million, 31.481 crore);  Bharti Airtel  or Airtel with 1,157.1 lakh (115.71 million, 11.571 crore); Vodafone Idea 1,096.6 lakh (109.66 million, 10.966.crore), BSNL 222.9 lakh  (22.29 million, 2.229 crore) and Tata Tele. Group 19.4 lakh (1.94 million, 0.194 crore).

    Wireless broadband internet subscribers

    As on 30 April, 2019, the top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd  with 3,148.1 lakh (314.81 million, 31.481 crore), Bharti Airtel 1,133.3 lakh (113.33 million, 11.333 crore), Vodafone Idea 1,096.4 lakh (109.64 million, 10.964 crore), BSNL 123.9 lakh (12.39 million, 1.239 crore) and Tata Teleservices 15.4 lakh (1.54 million, 0.154 crore).

    As has been the case right from the time it was launched, growth in wireless broadband internet subscribers was led by Jio which added 80.9 lakh (8.90 million, 0.809 crore) subscribers in Apr-19.  Airtel added 10.7 lakh (1.07 million, 0.107 crore) during the period, while Vodafone-Idea lost 5.6 lakh (0.56 million, 0.56 crore). Also, BSNL lost 5.4 lakh (0.54 million, 0.054 crore) subscribers during the period under review.

    Wired broadband internet subscribers

    As on 30 April, 2019, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL with 91.5 lakh (9.15 million, 0.915 crore), Bharti Airtel 23.8 lakh (2.38 million 0.238 crore), Atria Convergence Technologies  or ACT with 14.3 lakh (1.43 million, 0.143 crore), Hathway Cable & Datacom or Hathway with 8.2 lakh (0.82 million, 0.082 crore) and MTNL 7.5 lakh (0.75 million, 0.075 crore).

    Both the public sector service providers BSNL and MTNL lost subscribers in Apr-19, while the three private players – Airtel, ACT and Hathway gained subscribers in Apr-19. BSNL lost 20,000 subscribers, while MTNL lost 40,000 subscribers in Apr-19. Hathway and Airtel added 50,000 subscribers each, while ACT added 20,000 subscribers during the month under review. Overall, the top 5 subscribers added a net of 60,000 subscribers in Apr-19, while the number of wired broadband subscribers in India shrank by 10,000, hence, the other players which include MSOs’ and LCOs’ saw their wired broadband subscriber base decline by 70,000.