ITV

Tag: internet

  • Airtel Xstream Fiber’s new film by DDB Mudra aims to solve bandwidth issues

    Airtel Xstream Fiber’s new film by DDB Mudra aims to solve bandwidth issues

    Mumbai: Airtel Xstream Fiber has launched a new campaign to showcase its superior connection and service, which aims to solve bandwidth issues commonly encountered by broadband users. Conceptualised by DDB Mudra, the campaign has been developed to establish the product and its benefits in comparison with regular broadband services.

    Since the pandemic, every household has seen an increase in their internet consumption – for school, work, entertainment and more. However, with all devices connected to the same internet connection, bandwidth and connectivity issues are common. Backed by this insight, the campaign showcases an urban family’s dissatisfying virtual experience caused by a slow internet connection. The film ends as it explains the benefits of an Airtel Xtream Fiber connection.

    The campaign has been amplified on various consumer touchpoints including TV, print, digital, outdoor and cinema.

    DDB Mudra creative head – west Pallavi Chakravarti says, “On-off-on-off is a mantra no one wants to chant, but invariably does when living with poor broadband at home. If everyone in a family is plugged in, something’s got to give. We translated this pain-point into a fun campaign which paved the way for our solution to make a seamless entry and save the day.”

  • FY 2022-23 will be a transformational year for the company: Hathway Cable & Datacom MD Rajan Gupta

    FY 2022-23 will be a transformational year for the company: Hathway Cable & Datacom MD Rajan Gupta

    Mumbai: On building a profitable business, Hathway Cable and Datacom managing director Rajan Gupta stated that he believes FY 2022–23 will be a transformational year for the company.

    The provider of Cable and Internet services in its annual report mentioned the annual gross revenue up by 4 per cent to Rs 1,793 crore in FY 2022 as compared to FY 2021. After this, Gupta seems confident in increasing the company’s market share.

    Gupta said that with the worst of the pandemic effect seemingly behind us, and sports & other live entertainment events fully back in action, the environment looks favourable for the revival of the cable TV business currently.

    The company is confident that the efforts being made to prepare the platform for making deeper inroads into the market will significantly yield benefits in the increasing market share in the cable TV segment, going forward. It is focussed, committed and motivated to play a pivotal role in helping India’s media and entertainment industry bounce back, stronger than ever.

    Simultaneously, he also mentioned that the company acknowledged the current business environment has changed dramatically in the post-Covid world. In this difficult year, the company invested in building organisational competencies to align them with the evolving market and consumer demands & aspirations. “We have focussed on developing our capabilities in crisis management, enterprise agility, cost management, workforce resilience and innovation, which we believe to be the pillars of our growth-centric business model. Initiatives are also underway to leverage digital platforms to enhance the competencies of our partners in the cable TV business, as more than 90 per cent of our consumers in this segment are being serviced through our local cable operators,” Gupta added.

    He further noted that with the pandemic catalysing a new surge in demand, the FTTH (fiber to the home) segment of the business saw a healthy 20 per cent growth in revenue earning customers in these challenging times. “However, our cable TV business health was challenged due to a multitude of extraneous consumer and environmental factors. Limited original content, financial stress experienced by consumers in the Covid world, and multiple lockdowns led to many of them moving from metros to their home towns in this period. This, in turn, caused the bottom of the pyramid consumers to shift to value offerings, thereby limiting our ability to monetise this business,” Gupta said.

    Armed with in-depth industry knowledge and consumer understanding, Hathway responded to the situations with a powerful thrust on cable TV network expansion and transformation. Coupled with digital innovation, customer delight and workforce agility, the company is able to navigate successfully these unprecedented times.

    In line with this strategy, the company rolled out more than 140 new towns and added more than 3,000 kms of fibre network during the year under the community antenna television (CATV) business. With innovative next-generation high-definition (HD), high-efficiency video coding (HEVC) and over the top media service (OTT) set-top boxes delighting customers, Hathway scaled its consumer proposition for millions of new TV consumers. “These boxes host many new exciting industry-first features, such as time-shift – enabling users to watch a programme on one channel while recording a programme on another, radio channels, among others. We have also initiated a cable TV network transformation project, aimed at ensuring that our network is benchmarked to telco standards in terms of uptime, redundancies, resiliency and proactive monitoring,” he said.

    In the annual report, the company said that at the heart of its strategic thrust on continuous innovation lies a strong ambition to empower customers. “We invest in modern technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications and tools, to stay connected with our customers at all times. This helps us foster meaningful interactions with our customers,” he quoted.

    Taking its local cable operators (LCO) partnerships to the next level, the company also noted that amid the challenges of the year, Hathway’s marketing team pushed its efforts to improve communication with its LCO partners and assist them in growing the business. As part of these efforts, it identified the pain points of its LCOs, devised exciting ideas to pique their interest, and launched initiatives to raise awareness of its products and services.

    As part of these efforts, it identified the pain points of its LCOs, innovated exciting ideas to grab their attention, and took initiatives that helped create awareness about its products and services. According to the report, this triggered a new level of LCO activation and re-energisation of the stalled engagement.

    On the content front, the company plans to launch Kflicks, a dedicated channel for Korean content with dubbing in Kannada and Telugu languages for Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana markets. There will be English subtitles for the rest of the markets.

    The move is aimed at catering to the high demand from the new generation and the millennials. It also plans to launch an app, LCO LightHouse, to raise awareness about the LCO portal’s underutilised features, provide the necessary information, promote new or existing schemes & increase engagement.

  • ZMCL chief revenue officer Manoj Jagyasi moves on

    ZMCL chief revenue officer Manoj Jagyasi moves on

    Mumbai: Manoj Jagyasi has quit as Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL) chief revenue officer, ending his 1.9 years stint with the company, sources confirmed to Indiantelevision.com 

    Having joined ZMCL in 2020 as executive cluster head – sales, Jagyasi was promoted as CRO in April 2021. Prior to this, he was executive cluster head – revenue for Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd.

    At ZMCL, Jagyasi was responsible for the top-line revenue for all 11 news channels of the Group. He is credited for turning around the regional news cluster for the organization, across all markets like West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarati and the North belt.

    Jagyasi has nearly 15 years of experience in business development and sales across industries including television, radio, internet, and FMCG. He has been associated with brands like ZEE Unimedia Ltd., ETV News Network at TV18, iTV Network – India News, HUL and India Today.

  • Mzaalo partners with Jio to deliver digital entertainment to rural India

    Mzaalo partners with Jio to deliver digital entertainment to rural India

    Mumbai: Gamified video and entertainment ecosystem Mazaalo has announced its strategic partnership with Jio. Through this partnership, Mzaalo’s content catalogue and rewards ecosystem will be available on Jio’s low-cost phones and will be freely accessible for millions of rural Indians most of whom are first-time internet users.

    Mzaalo app will be native in the JioStore for all JioPhones powered by KaiOS. 150 million+ low-cost Jio phone users will have access to the app’s library of 12,000+ content pieces including Bollywood films, regional cinema, original series, and music videos. They will also have an opportunity to earn rewards across 600+ brand partners, said the statement.

    “As internet penetration grows deeper across India, there is a growing demand for quality online video streaming content,” said Mzaalo COO Vikram Tanna. “The collaboration with Jio enables us to expand our digital footprint and democratise digital entertainment for the Indian hinterland.”

    The Indian hinterland – the remote parts of the country comprise about 65 per cent of India’s population, nearly 900 million people. While mobile services have reached this population, it is not as widespread as it is in urban cities. This partnership between Mzaalo and Jio will provide a new opportunity for those who do not have access to the mobile phone economy.

    In addition to this partnership, Mzaalo has also been chosen to join the Jio Developers Build for Bharat Growth Pad Program. As a member, Mzaalo and its community will receive special program benefits like first market access program, year-round technical support from Jio, an exclusive community of leaders for mentorship within Jio’s rich leadership ecosystem, JioAds credits, tools and services, training on Jio Developer Tools, and more.

  • GUEST COLUMN: OTT serves the nation while the internet counsels it

    GUEST COLUMN: OTT serves the nation while the internet counsels it

    Mumbai: The Covid-19 pandemic has upturned all walks of life. People’s lives have switched to a virtual setup and personal choices have moved from interacting with people to purchasing products, availing services, and even spending leisure time to a click or a swipe! The significance of this transition, however, has established itself as a big opportunity for the Internet. While the exponential growth of the Internet is undeniable, three sectors, in particular, continue to witness mammoth amounts of data traffic – collaborative communication tools, gaming, and OTT.

    A weekend without binge-watching or watch-parties today is more like a restaurant that’s taken your favorite food off the menu! Hence OTT is far from experiencing a post-Covid slackening. In fact, with such a large user base and the confidence, the content creators found in releasing content on OTT ever-growing platforms, OTT & VOD traffic rose by 139 per cent from January to August.

    March 2021 culminated with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) marking 825.30 million internet users in the country. Amongst these, active ad-support and paid streaming users accounted for 325 million. A phenomenal breakthrough was observed in rural India, and numbers as high as 65 per cent of India’s total OTT consumption were reported by the Broadband India Forum. At an all-time high, the OTT industry is only set to boom, and as reports by RBSA Advisors suggest, the OTT market is set to grow to $ four billion by 2025 and $12.5 billion by 2030. From 20 minutes to 50 minutes and one-hour average time spent on OTT platforms, from two OTT platforms to 40+ platforms, the OTT revolution in India has come a long way.

    One facet of this revolution that took the center stage included OTT platforms launching themselves into the hyper-competitive environment by catering to local tastes and preferences that enabled them to reach a wider audience in less than no time. As part of their content variety offerings and in an endeavor to bridge the gap beyond the urban setups, OTT platforms across the diverse geography of India, launched regional content in India. This led to one impressive surge in regional content viewership, and industry analysts suggest that 40 per cent of the total viewership in India now comprises regional content consumers. Additionally, this regional content also witnessed a surge overseas particularly in countries like the USA, UK, Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore, etc.

    Observing this stark rise and the massive demand from the Indian market, international players like Netflix, Disney, and Amazon got into an arms race by launching regional and India-centric content in addition to international content. This availability of content in both original and dubbed languages further boosted the momentum of OTT making it one of the hottest segments across the Indian subcontinent.

    However, while the demand is only set to grow, matching the growth of the sector at the same pace requires a stable, reliable, secured digital infrastructure making it more critical than it was ever expected to be thereby giving interconnection center stage.

    Internet exchanges have established their importance in the OTT world primarily on three grounds. Firstly, internet exchange points reside within data centers that offer world-class facilities and the ability to shoulder critical and customised digital infrastructures. Secondly, interconnectivity creates an ecosystem with widespread points of presence all converging at a single place while also providing peering, DirectCloud, and other similar services. This enables the reduction of latency, the ability to bypass as high as 90 per cent of the internet traffic, the scaling down of costs associated with bandwidth and transmission. Additionally, in an environment placing an urgency on security, internet exchange points provide network services that enhance data security.

    If you considered key runners in an OTT-hiccup race, latency would bring home a medal. While the live video experiences can be killed by high latency, even constant buffering in recorded content can lead consumers far from service. In fact, studies suggest that a two-second delay while loading a website can result in a 100 per cent bounce rate.  This emphasises the importance of keeping content as close to the user as possible. To quantify it, live streaming in HD/4K should ideally be less than 1,200 km away from the user. While it is easier for broadcast networks to circumvent congestion and avoid latency, the challenge lies in finding long-term, reliable, and cost-effective solutions. An Internet Exchange Point allows networks of all segments to exchange traffic while keeping local traffic local. This enables OTT providers to reach the Internet’s ‘long tail’—ISPs who distribute content to regional users. Keeping traffic local reduces the distance data must travel which in turn reduces latency thereby improving content performance and user experience. Interconnection services can give OTT players the secure and resilient digital infrastructure they require while also giving them the ability to upgrade a 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) port to a 100GE port.

    Digital entertainment is an ever-evolving medium and that the need for seamless and secure internet access will continue to soar high. It also brings in higher possibilities of network collisions and contentions. This can lead to a downstream or a slowdown of a platform’s functioning. That again finds answers in an Internet Exchange built to deal with peak internet traffic with also the ability to manage outages making it an indispensable solution even in the face of a major crises situation.

    India is the second-largest country in terms of internet users and is the fastest-growing OTT market globally and is predicted to become the sixth-largest by 2024. Reports by RBSA indicate that the industry has the potential to grow into a $15 bn industry over the next decade. This can also be accredited to OTT players partnering with telecom companies like Airtel, Jio, and VI, the entry of global players like Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ Hotstar through customised content and major investments, and the growth of home-grown booming OTT platforms. This aggressive pace of growth has further fueled the demand of the data-hungry nation which has trends across the industry as proof.

    This emphasises the need for a secure, scalable, and compliant infrastructure to support this demand now more than ever. It is only in the presence of an innovative and unfailingly reliable internet infrastructure that the OTT industry in the country will be able to meet the needs of the nation it has held firm to until now.

    (Sudhir Kunder is the country director of DE-CIX India. The views expressed in the column are personal and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)

  • Facebook faces one of its longest global outages

    Facebook faces one of its longest global outages

    New Delhi: Social media giant Facebook along with its subsidiary platforms, Instagram and WhatsApp experienced one of its longest global outages on Monday night after the services remained non-functional at least for over five hours.

    The exact reason for the outage has not been established as yet. 

    Facebook took to Twitter to acknowledge the problem after several users complained of issues in accessing the social media site. “We are aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We are working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologise for any inconvenience,” a Facebook spokesperson tweeted.

     

     

    India has one of the highest numbers of users of Facebook as well as its other platforms. As per government data shared earlier this year, India has 53 crore WhatsApp users, 41 crore Facebook users and 21 crore Instagram users.

     

     

    Facebook chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer said the social media company was experiencing “networking issues” and teams were working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible.

    As the Facebook-owned sites remained down, users took to alternative sites, including Twitter, Telegram, and Signal to connect with each other. While there have been similar outages in the past, the issues were resolved within a short time. However, on Monday, the sites remained down for as long as five hours.

    WhatsApp services resumed early on Monday morning, while Facebook and Instagram users continued to face issues.

     

     

  • Online is second most consumed media after TV in rural India: Report

    Online is second most consumed media after TV in rural India: Report

    Mumbai: There has been an internet revolution in rural India, with online being the most consumed media after television, according to a joint report released by media agency GroupM and insights and consulting firm Kantar on Wednesday.

    With respect to online content consumption, music/audio leads the pack at 69 per cent followed by news at 49 per cent and gaming at 33 per cent. Usage of video/OTT apps is driven by YouTube at 87 per cent (most in Rajasthan, AP/ Telangana, TN, and Bihar), followed by Disney+ Hotstar at 30 per cent (highest usage in UP, TN, Gujarat, Kerala), the report said.

    WhatsApp and Facebook are the most used social media/ messenger platforms at 87 per cent (most in Rajasthan, AP / Telangana, Karnataka) and 66 per cent (most in Odisha, UP, Gujarat and West Bengal) usage respectively, according to the second edition of the Rural COVID Barometer report. 

    The report explores rural India’s concern about the impact of the second wave and how it alters consumer behaviour and purchase patterns. The research was conducted with Kantar’s data and insights network and Dialogue Factory’s rural marketing intelligence in eighteen Indian states, across rural adults (18+ years in age) with representation across gender, NCCS, and age groups.

    Phone Pe is the most used digital payments app with 19 per cent of rural consumers having used these services in the last 6 months, says the report. Usage of Phone Pe is driven by Karnataka at 46 per cent followed by Rajasthan at 38 per cent.

    Growth in the consumer durables and automotive (two-wheeler) sectors is likely to slow down in the next six months. However, the smartphone category is expected to see fast growth in the near future.

    The construction sector is also expected to see a bounce-back with consumers expected to spend on building a house/undertake smaller construction work in the next six months.

    As a result of the pandemic, rural consumption and shopping patterns have witnessed a major shift. With respect to retail channels, 56 per cent of consumers prefer local village shops for purchasing groceries, and 49 per cent for personal hygiene, and 45 per cent for cleaning products. Even big-ticket items like consumer electronics and durables are preferred to be bought at these local shops at 50 per cent and 46 per cent respectively. 

    Rural consumers are saving 25 per cent of their income, the report stated. Southern India (except for Tamil Nadu) is saving more in comparison to other parts of the country. As expected, expenses are higher on personal care, hygiene and cleaning products while spends on indulgence and beauty products have been deprioritised.

    “The pandemic has evolved the rural consumer’s decision-making process. They are watching their spending and prioritising their buying patterns by the need of the hour,” said GroupM Dialogue Factory, head of experiential marketing – APAC, Dalveer Singh. “There is a positive acceptance of the vaccination and the upper- and middle-class rural Indians are being more proactive in financial planning to deal with covid constraints, which make these markets a significant place to introduce investment and savings products. There is a deep sense of uplift on the subject of India’s economic future.”

    While rural India is concerned about the COVID situation in the second wave, most are also positive about economic recovery once the situation normalises. Nearly three in four rural households have received some form of assistance via government schemes, thus providing the much-needed financial cushion to consumers, the report stated.

    “With a highly concerned rural consumer, rural India is planning finances better and inclined towards a savings mindset,” stated Kantar Insights Division, senior executive director, Puneet Avasthi. “We are witnessing a significant rise in digital payments as an important mode of transaction. With the change in consumption priorities in favor of health and hygiene products, FMCG marketers should leverage this trend for planning their innovation pipeline.”

  • Jio leads in 4G download speed, Vodafone Idea fastest in upload: TRAI

    Jio leads in 4G download speed, Vodafone Idea fastest in upload: TRAI

    New Delhi: Reliance Jio continues to reign over the 4G internet segment with 21.9 megabit per second (Mbps) average download speed in June. The download speed has increased marginally from 20.7 Mbps in May, showed the latest monthly data published by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

    Jio’s network speed in the month was over three times higher than that of the nearest competitor Vodafone Idea, which showed an average download speed of 6.5 Mbps. Meanwhile, Airtel also recorded a marginal improvement in its average 4G download speed, but it was still the lowest at five Mbps, as per the data.

    While Jio tops the 4G download chart, Vodafone Idea leads in the upload segment.

    According to the telecom regulator, Vodafone Idea had an average upload speed of 6.2 Mbps in May, followed by Reliance Jio with an upload speed of 4.8 Mbps and Bharti Airtel with 3.9 Mbps.

    The download speed helps consumers access content from the internet, while upload speed helps them send or share pictures or videos to their contacts. The average speed is computed by TRAI based on the data it collects across India with the help of its MySpeed application on a real-time basis.

    Government owned telecom operator BSNL, which has also rolled out 4G service in select areas, did not figure in the TRAI data.

  • Jio Fiber acquires 2 mn new premises despite pandemic’s blows

    KOLKATA: The last year has played a crucial role in the surge of fixed-line broadband consumption, thanks to work from home and school from home routine followed by millions. After years of tepid growth, the industry got the much-needed push and one of the largest players, Jio Fiber seems to have cashed in on the trend.

    Jio Fiber has acquired more than two million new premises over the past year, said the Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani at the company’s 44th annual general meeting on Thursday.

    “Across the world, the past 15 months have been challenging for on-the-ground physical work. Jio Fiber, Jio’s optical fiber-based, gigabit speed, fixed broadband services has also faced similar challenges. The pace of Optical fiber deployment, building connectivity, and home installations have all been slower than expected because of lockdowns and other restrictions across our country,” said Ambani.

    With more than two million new premises over the past year, Jio Fiber now has a cumulative base of three million active home and business users. “JioFiber has become the largest and the fastest-growing fixed broadband operator in India,” said the Reliance Industries chairman, “I continue to be confident of a rapid uptake of Jio Fiber services and revenue growth for Jio as India recovers from Covid.”

    Data consumption on Jio Fiber has grown to more than 3.5 times compared to a year ago. Jio entered the home broadband market in 2016. At the moment, Jio’s optical fiber network is physically present outside more than 12 million homes and business premises, with a deep fiber footprint in the top 100 cities.

    Ambani added that Jio is uniquely positioned to quickly and seamlessly upgrade to 5G. To develop a 5G ecosystem, he said, the company is working with global partners to develop a range of 5G devices. “Jio is not just working to make India 2G-mukt, but also 5G-yukt,” he said.

    Jio Fiber recently launched new post-paid plans and announced that it will not charge Jio Fiber postpaid users for installation or a security deposit of the internet setup. It is offering six and twelve months post-paid plans. The plans have been introduced at a starting price of Rs 399 per month. For customer retention, it offers free Netflix, Amazon Prime Video subscription along with others for its high-end plans.