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Tag: Jio

  • Jio maintains lead in wired broadband subscriber addition

    Jio maintains lead in wired broadband subscriber addition

    KOLKATA: The growth of home broadband users in India continues as it gains 3.8 lakh (0.38 million) subscribers in January 2021 to reach a base of 22.67 million. Among the top players, Mukesh Ambani-led Jio has maintained its lead in subscriber addition with 1.8 lakh new users, according to telecom subscription data published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

    Currently, Jio has 2.25 million subscribers overall, narrowing the gap with rival Airtel. Considerably, Jio recently launched seven tariff plans for micro, small, medium enterprises (MSMEs). Its new tariff plans can address 15-20 million customer base among 50 million underserved small enterprises, the Bank of America (BofA) said earlier.

    Airtel has also expanded its subscriber base adding 90,000 (0.09 million) subscribers in the month to reach 2.90 million base.  “Home broadband category is at the cusp in terms of growth. Ever since the Covid2019 crisis and growth of work from home, study from home, there has been an explosion of home broadband. The increased penetration of streaming services has also resulted in acceleration of home broadband,” Bharti Airtel India and South Asia MD & CEO Gopal Vittal said in an earnings discussion.

    State-run BSNL has again lost subscribers, down to 7.69 million subscribers. Two other leading private players – Atria Convergence Limited (ACT) and Hathway – have also gained 20,000 and 10,000 new subscribers respectively.

    The wired broadband segment saw adequate growth in 2020 by adding 31.5 lakh new subscribers to reach an overall 22.29 million subscribers in December 2020.

  • 2020: An eventful year for DTH

    2020: An eventful year for DTH

    KOLKATA: Over the past year all the direct-to-home (DTH) operators in India have embraced the change in the ecosystem. The industry has started reinventing its offerings in a big way to combat the threat posed by OTT players. Throughout 2020, leading DTH operators struck partnerships with OTTs big and small, expanded value-added service portfolio, rolled out several offers to keep consumers hooked.

    The sector currently has 70.58 million subscribers as of 30 June 2020, according to the latest data shared by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). While the industry lost two million subscribers in 2019, it has added around six lakh subscribers in the first half of the year. In addition to that, a Crisil report has projected four-six per cent revenue growth for FY21 reaching Rs 22,000 crore.

    After the first quarter, the progress of the industry has been murkier. Although traditional TV consumption surged due to Covid2019, with some benefit for distribution platforms, lack of fresh content, migration post-lockdown, closure of commercial establishments led to churn later. Many consumers also degraded their subscription packages due to the absence of new episodes of daily soaps and live sports.  

    “DTH subscribers surged initially in lockdown but over time consumers started optimising channel subscriptions due to limited fresh content. Subscribers expected to increase by six to seven per cent as fresh content has returned to TV and cable TV subscribers move to DTH,” a CII-BCG report said. According to industry estimates, the operators’ consumer acquisition started coming back to normal since late July.

    Expanding content portfolio to retain, acquire subscribers:

    As a response to the unprecedented crisis, the DTH companies not only took steps like incentive bundles, new free platform services, but kept innovating. Hybrid set top boxes turned out to the buzzword for DTH sector this year as all the players have upped their efforts in this segment. Then the pandemic gave a pronounced nudge to the demand for hybrid boxes. Market leader Tata Sky aggressively promoted its new box Tata Sky Binge+ throughout the year. The company has even brought down the price to Rs 2,999 from Rs 5,999 – at a time when fixed broadband and smart TV segment are seeing rapid growth in India.

    Its rival Airtel has also been pushing cross-platform content strategy since the launch of Airtel Xstream in late 2019. The surge in video consumption has boosted its uptake massively, leading to 50 per cent viewership increase in the early part of lockdown. On the other hand, Dish TV is going big not only on Android box connected devices Dish SMRT Hub and d2h Stream, but also its OTT platform Watcho for Dish TV and d2h users. Watcho crossed five million subscribers during the lockdown. However, the player causing major disruption is Reliance’s Jio TV+ for JioFiber set-top box users. Along with aggregating content from 12 leading OTT players, it offers a single sign-in support.

    Hybrid set-top boxes were introduced a few years ago but did not get much traction. With consumption going up both on linear TV and OTT, the demand for these devices has been on the upswing. But the demand is till now limited to the top 15 cities, the top tier of the market.

    In 2020, DTH operators focused on further bolstering their value added services. One of the major areas has been educational content, perhaps in reaction to classes being conducted online in India. Apart from that, fitness services and cinematic experiences were also expanded by these players, especially Dish TV and Tata Sky.

    Manufacturing moves to India:

    To streamline set top box manufacturing and delivery, DTH players have decided to shift a significant portion to the country. Tata Sky partnered with Technicolor to develop STBs for the Indian market that will be manufactured and distributed locally. Dish TV, too, intends to shift its production to India by the first quarter of 2021. Additionally, it plans to start manufacturing major components of the STB as well as its accessories in India. Both players claimed that it would push the government’s Make in India vision. For long, local STB manufacturers have complained that Chinese companies have taken away their business. The move has shone a ray of optimism for them.

    Regulations impacting the sector:

    As the industry woke up to the amended new tariff order (NTO 2.0) at the beginning of 2020, the DTH players had to adjust network capacity fee, multi-TV connection charges. During the Covid2019 crisis, TRAI recommended that all DTH and cable STBs provided to customers must support interoperability and urged the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) to make it mandatory by introducing the requisite provisions. In response to TRAI’s consultation paper, industry leaders such as TataSky, Dish and Reliance Jio opposed it. The viability of the move was questioned and stakeholders warned that it would be a very high-cost operation.

    The cloud over license fee lifts:

    But the year has ended on a positive note, with the MIB issuing a much-awaited clarification on the matter of licence fee. DTH license will be issued for 20 years and license fee will be collected quarterly. Further, the period of license may be renewed by 10 years at a time. The annual fee has been revised from 10 per cent of GR to eight per cent of AGR. Sharing of infrastructure between DTH operators and 100 per cent FDI have also been approved by the cabinet, among other amendments. 

    The industry believes clarity over license fee will bring certainty in terms of planning and investment. In a very recent communication, the MIB has stated that the existing licensees are required to clear pending dues before applying afresh for a license to provide DTH services,.

    DD Free Dish’s revival:

    Prasar Barati-run free-to-air DTH platform DD Free Dish also had its moments this past year. All the four major broadcasters that had pulled out of DD Free Dish in 2019 after the new tariff order was implemented returned to the platform in 2020. Star Utsav, Sony Pal, Zee Anmol, Colors Rishtey and Zee Anmol Cinema had successfully bid on the 45th e-auction for placement. Many new channels have come on board, including three movie channels in the recent auction.

  • No plans to enter corporate farming business: Reliance

    No plans to enter corporate farming business: Reliance

    NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries Ltd has moved a petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court today, seeking the government’s intervention to bring a complete stop to acts of vandalism by miscreants, who destroyed some of its telecom towers in the states a few days ago.

    “Taking advantage of the ongoing farmers’ agitation near the national capital, these vested interests have launched an incessant, malicious and motivated vilification campaign against Reliance, which has absolutely no basis in truth,” the conglomerate said in a statement.

    While thanking authorities for their action against the vandals, Reliance has sought punitive and deterrent action against miscreants and vested interests in its plea to the high court.

    “These acts of violence have endangered the lives of thousands of its employees and caused damage and disruption to the vital communications infrastructure, sales and service outlets run by its subsidiaries in the two states. The miscreants indulging in vandalism have been instigated and aided by vested interests and our business rivals,” it claimed.

    Reliance has asserted that it has nothing to do with the three farm laws enacted by the Centre, and in no way benefits from them. It added that its subsidiary Reliance Retail, Reliance Jio Infocomm has not engaged in any “corporate” or “contract” farming in the past, and has no plans to enter this business in future.

    The Mukesh Ambani-owned company clarified that it has not purchased any agricultural land, directly or indirectly, in Punjab/Haryana or anywhere else in India, for agricultural purposes. It further mentioned that it does not purchase any food grains directly from farmers, and has never entered into long-term procurement contracts to gain unfair advantage over farmers or sought that its suppliers buy from farmers at less than remunerative prices.

    “Reliance and its affiliates fully share and support the aspiration of Indian farmers to get a fair and profitable price on a predictable basis for what they produce with exemplary hard work, innovation and dedication. Reliance seeks significant augmentation of their incomes on a sustainable basis, and pledges to work towards this goal. Indeed, we shall insist on our suppliers to strictly abide by the Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism, and/or any other mechanism for remunerative price for farm produce, as may be determined and implemented by the government,” the company said.

    The conglomerate’s statement comes on a day the government was scheduled to hold talks with protesting farmers in New Delhi. This round of discussions, too, proved inconclusive; the next meeting will be held on 8 January. Meanwhile, farmers have declared their intention to further intensify their movement.

  • Wired broadband sector adds 3.9 lakh users in October

    Wired broadband sector adds 3.9 lakh users in October

    KOLKATA: As the number of internet users in India is reaching new levels gradually, having crossed 700 million in 2020, the home broadband sector also continues to grow. The sector has reached 21.51 million subscribers in October, albeit accounting for a meagre share of the overall base yet. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report, the wired broadband segment has added 3.9 lakh new users in the month. But overall the  total number of broadband users has gone up from 726.32 million to 734.82 million subscribers in October; with mobile device users totting up  to 712.67 million, registering  1.15 per cent growth.

    The top five wired broadband service providers were BSNL, Bharti Airtel, Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT), Jio , Hathway. The state- run broadband service provider BSNL has lost 5 lakhs users.

    (Source: TRAI) 

    Among other services, Jio has added highest users in the month to reach 1.70 million by adding 1.8 lakh users. Jio Fiber added most wired broadband subscribers in September too. Bharti Airtel’s home broadband service also expanded its market share by adding 70,000 subscribers. While the deep-pocketedplayers keep expanding their footprints, other players like ACT, Hathway have not been able to add significant users in the month. However, ACT has witnessed decent growth in 2020.

    A recent report from Motilal Oswal highlighted that the  home broadband subscriber growth has been modest in the past five years, with annual CAGR of just five per cent. But the financial firm  added that the segment has a minuscule $2 billion market size, accounting for only nine per cent share of the country’s Rs 1.7 trillion wireless market.

    “It has largely been an urban product, with low penetration of seven per cent – due to limited network connectivity with just 80–100m estimated home passes – which has restricted subscriber growth. This has given way to increased wireless consumption in India, which has a far easier and convenient installation/activation,” it added.

  • Facebook started FDI avalanche in India during pandemic: Mukesh Ambani

    Facebook started FDI avalanche in India during pandemic: Mukesh Ambani

    KOLKATA: At the beginning of the Covid2019 pandemic, Jio attracted its largest global investor – Facebook, which announced a $5.7 billion investment in the telco. At the inaugural Facebook Fuel for India 2020 event, Reliance Industries chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani said that the social media giant had set the ball rolling for overall foreign investment in India. Since then, record FDI has flown into the country.

    During a virtual session with Facebook founder, chairman & CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Ambani mentioned that Jio and Facebook have become value creation platforms for consumers as well as small businesses.

    He went on to explain that while Jio brings digital connectivity, WhatsApp now with WhatsApp Pay brings digital interactivity, and the ability to move to close transactions. On the other hand, Jio Mart offers unmatched online and offline retail opportunity, which gives the small shops dotting India’s villages and small towns a chance to digitise and be at par with everyone else in the world.

    “To my mind, more wealth creation means more employment and more business. And together with our platforms and the tools that we will provide to small businesses and to individual consumers, I believe will drive India to a $5 trillion economy and will make a much more equal India, with more equal wealth growth at the bottom of the pyramid,” Ambani added.

    Zuckerberg also agreed that the vision of helping small businesses lies at the core of the partnership. Facebook supports more than 50 million WhatsApp Business App users globally every month and more than 15 million of these are in India, he shared. With communities around the world now in lockdown, there are a lot of entrepreneurs who need digital tools that they can rely on to find and communicate with customers and grow their businesses. He added that this is something that the Facebook-Jio partnership can really help with.

    “We are looking forward to your (Facebook’s) involvement and innovation in India, creating benefits for hundreds of millions of people and then taking this innovation to the rest of the world. I hope that the rest of the world learns from Indian policy, and what Facebook is able to achieve in India. And we as Indians will be very proud, if Facebook says we did it first in India, and then took it to 100 countries. And I look forward to working with you on that,” Ambani reiterated.

  • Hits debuts on Jio

    Hits debuts on Jio

    NEW DELHI: Hits, one of Asia's top English networks bringing the best of Hollywood and UK TV shows, will now be available to Jio users. It will be introduced as a value-added linear service on JioTV for mobile users as well as JioTV+ for JioFiber users.

    Jio users can immerse themselves in their all-time favourite shows in HD quality and reconnect with well-told stories and iconic characters. Blockbuster TV series like Mind Your Language, Diff’rent Strokes, Small Wonder, Sherlock Holmes, Knight Rider, Baywatch, M*A*S*H, Murder, She Wrote and many more are part of the programming line-up.

    Rewind Network CEO Avi Himatsinghani said, “We are really happy and excited to be associated with Jio to launch Hits and bring a hand-picked selection of the superhit Hollywood and other favourite UK TV shows of all time to their subscribers. I am certain that these shows will stir up happy memories and will be thoroughly enjoyed today as good stories transcend time. Hits has been topping the charts in other Asian markets and we are confident that the service will be equally loved and well received by the 400 million-strong Jio family.”

    Hits features a carefully curated selection of top TV dramas and sitcoms from Hollywood and UK majors such as The Walt Disney Company, ITV Studios, ViacomCBS, NBCUniversal, Fremantle and Sony Pictures, and will progressively introduce more titles from other studios. 

  • Netflix’s Happy New Year: To end 2020 with 4.6 mn India subs

    Netflix’s Happy New Year: To end 2020 with 4.6 mn India subs

    KOLKATA: Despite facing headwinds in other parts of the world, Netflix is sailing full speed ahead in India, suggests a recent report by Media Partner Asia. The global streaming giant has reportedly witnessed 2x growth in operating revenue in FY20, and is likely to end the calendar year with 4.6 million paid subscribers in the country.

    The report attributes this spanking performance to Netflix’s partnership with telecom giant Jio. It also adds that the video-streaming service may touch average revenue per user or ARPU of $5. Moreover, the Indian market may well have contributed to 9 per cent of the company’s global revenue in Q3.

    In late September, Jio announced postpaid plans offering mobile-only Netflix subscription to users of Rs 399 plan and above.  Jio’s Rs 1499 fibre broadband package also gives access to Netflix’s basic plan.

    “We’re also working with local partners like Reliance Jio, India’s largest mobile operator, wherein Q3 we launched a bundle with their mobile and fibre broadband plans. As part of this broad partnership, we’ll integrate Netflix with two of Jio’s set-top boxes. We’ve also partnered with financial institutions in India to make payment processing easier and more seamless for our members, which we expect will have retention benefits. All of these initiatives are important and work in concert with our big investment in local originals to improve the Netflix experience for our members,” the company stated in its Q3 earnings.

    Starting from mobile-only plans to adding Hindi interface, and plans of giving free weekend access to users in India on top, the company is doing its best to land a large slice of the Indian streaming pie.

  • RIL posts strong Q2 earnings, media biz betters performance

    RIL posts strong Q2 earnings, media biz betters performance

    KOLKATA: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) reported strong Q2 earnings on Friday. The telecom and retail business has driven the growth and the media business also bettered its performance.

    “We delivered strong overall operational and financial performance compared to the previous quarter with recovery in petrochemicals and retail segment, and sustained growth in digital services business,” RIL CMD Mukesh Ambani said.

    “Domestic demand has sharply recovered across our O2C business and is now near pre-Covid2019 level for most products. Retail business activity has normalised with strong growth in key consumption baskets as lockdowns ease across the country. With large capital raise in last six months across Jio and retail business, we have welcomed several strategic and financial investors into Reliance family. We continue to pursue growth initiatives in each of our businesses with a focus on the India opportunity,” he added.

    The company’s operating profit fell 6.6 per cent year-on-year to Rs 10,602 crore in the July-September period. Its revenue fell 24 per cent over last year to Rs 1.16 lakh crore while operating margin widened to 16 per cent from 14.4 per cent earlier.

    Reliance Jio’s revenue including access revenues for the quarter was Rs 21,708 crore, EBITDA stood at Rs 7,971 crore. It netted Rs 3,020 crore quarterly profit, a jump of 185 per cent year on year. The telco operator’s ARPU rose to Rs 145 per subscriber per month.

    How did the media segment perform?

    The media business' revenue rose by 31.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 1,061 crore as Covid2019-linked impact on ad-revenues receded over the quarter. EBITDA for the quarter was at Rs 166 crore. Operating margins continued to improve, as broadcasting margins rose sharply, and digital news business swung into profitability.

    The company said in a statement that ad-revenues rebounded sharply, as economic activity restarted on tapering of lockdowns. News business’ advertising has fully recovered, and entertainment recovery is near-complete by the end of the quarter. Subscription revenues have been resilient and domestic subscription revenue continues to rise led by expanding TV and Digital distribution tie-ups.

    “TV viewership has now settled at 1.1x pre-Covid levels. Pay-TV has clawed back its share from free-to-air channels, as entertainment programming is back in full-swing. An increased propensity to pay for content has been witnessed. Flagship properties Moneycontrol and Voot have witnessed rapid growth in subscribers,” it added.

  • Netflix, Jio lead in customer experience: Kantar report

    Netflix, Jio lead in customer experience: Kantar report

    NEW DELHI: Jio and Airtel have emerged as the top telecom operators in terms of customer experience, according to a report by consulting firm Kantar. Among streaming platforms, Netflix delivered the most consumer satisfaction, followed by Amazon.

    Music streaming services like Amazon Music, Spotify and Apple Music also made the list as "special mentions" for providing great customer experience.

    The new CX+ TMT report released by Kantar evaluates companies in the telecom, media and technology sectors based on a unique combination of their experience scores, and on dimensions that are critical to the customer's journey.

    The study analysed responses from over 6,000 customers across 13 cities in the country in early 2020 to find out key brands in the TMT sector that consumers are most satisfied with.

    In the mobile device segment, Apple topped the list, displacing Xiaomi as the technology brand that provides the best customer experience. OnePlus and Samsung tied for third place. As per the report, Apple has 1.8x higher engagement levels than those at the lower end of the index.

    Tata Sky retained the top spot in the satellite service provider category.

    The landscape across the TMT sectors has changed drastically over the last one year, said Sushmita Balasubramaniam, domain lead for CX and Commerce – South Asia, insights division, Kantar. "Consumers' adoption of and dependence on digital, whether for basic everyday living, working, studying or entertainment has presented enormous challenges to companies in these sectors. And, the changes in usage of products and services will also mean that customer priorities on the kind of experience they are seeking will be different from the pre-COVID era."

    Soumya Mohanty, chief client officer, South Asia, insights division, Kantar explained that there will be vigorous competition in the TMT sector owing to tech convergence and emerging global media giants.

    “Be it network services providers, handheld device brands or streaming media providers, all will leverage customer data to build personalised journeys, CX and owning the relationship with the end user will become increasingly important,” added Mohanty.

  • Indian broadband subscribers growth down in July 2020

    Indian broadband subscribers growth down in July 2020

    BENGALURU: Indian broadband internet subscribers growth for the month ended 31 July 2020 (Jul-20) was less than half (49.6 per cent) of the growth in Jun-20 as per the latest Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data. The broadband subscriber base grew by just 71.7 lakh in Jul-20 as compared to 1.447 crore in the previous month.

    Overall, in calendar year 2020, the country has seen addition of 4.347 crore broadband internet subcribers or 6.2 per cent growth until Jul-20. Apr-20, the first month of the Covid2019 lockdown, had seen broadband internet subscribers decline by 1.13 crore.

    There were 70.54 crore broadband internet subscribers in India in Jul-20 as compared to 66.194 crore in Jan-20 and 69.823 crore in Jun-20.  

    The top five service providers constituted 98.91 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of July-20. These service providers were Reliance Jio with 40.196 crore, followed by Airtel with 15.574 crore, Vodafone Idea with 11.527 crore, the public sector BSNL with 2.303 crore, and Atria Convergence Technologies with 16.9 lakh broadband internet subscribers.

    Mobile devices users (Phones and dongles)

    The largest growth driver has been through mobile devices, which include phones and dongles, with addition of 4.254 crore broadband internet subscribers or a 6.2 per cent growth in CY 2020 until Jul-20. Mobile devices are the largest platform for broadband internet in India with a more than 97 per cent share of subscribers. There were 68.464 crore broadband internet subscribers through mobile devices in Jul-20 as compared to 64.219 crore in Jan-20 and 67.779 crore in Jun-20.

    The top five wireless broadband service providers in Jul-20 were Jio with 40.08 crore, Airtel with 15.325 crore, Vodafone Idea with 11.526 crore, BSNL with 1.517 crore, and Tikona Infinet Ltd with 3 lakh subscribers.

    Wired broadband internet subscribers

    The second largest broadband internet services platform with a 28-29 per cent share of broadband internet is the wireline or wired platform. This segment has witnessed a growth of 4.9 per cent in Jul-20 as compared to the beginning of the year, with the addition of 9.9 lakh subscribers, for a total of 2.013 crore subscribers in Jul-20.

    The top five wired broadband service providers in Jul-20 were BSNL with 78.6 lakh subscribers, Airtel with 24.9 lakh, Atria Convergence Technologies with 16.9 lakh, Jio with 11.6 lakh, and Hathway Cable & Datacom at 10.1 lakh subscribers.

    Fixed wireless subscribers (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to-Point Radio & VSAT)

    Fixed Wireless platform (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, point-to-point radio & VSAT) is the smallest of the three with about 0.09 per cent share of the total broadband internet subscribers in the country. This platform has seen growth 0f 4.7 per cent in CY 2020 until Jul-20 to 6.4 lakh subscribers, as compared to 6.1 lakh subscribers in Jan-20.