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Tag: MSO

  • HSBC raises Hathway’s target price to Rs 432

    HSBC raises Hathway’s target price to Rs 432

    MUMBAI: HSBC Securities and Capital Markets’ latest report on multi system operator (MSO) Hathway Cable & Datacom has improved its rating from ‘normal’ to ‘overweight’.

     

    While it continues to value Hathway using a DCF based approach, it has raised the target price from Rs 276 to Rs 432. This is on the assumption of 12.5 per cent WACC, cost of equity of 13.5 per cent and cost of debt of 11 per cent.

     

    One of the main reasons for this is the expectation of increase in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU). HSBC expects gross billing to increase in phase I markets by around 15 per cent and phase II by around 10 per cent over the next two quarters. Gross ARPU is estimated to grow at 16 per cent CAGR from its earlier 8 per cent.

     

    Increase in ARPU would mean a near 10 to 20 per cent rise in cost, despite the incentives that are being offered by Star’s new RIO deals. The report also says that moving to prepaid would be necessary, even if it is restricted to Star  channels for now as in the long run it would allow MSOs to scale up to full prepaid gradually over the next 18-24 months.

     

    “LMOs will need to move to a prepay backend. Both these factors are positive for the sector and in our view build a long-term case for ARPU improvement, fewer bad debts, reducing friction between MSO and LMO relations, improving the industry structure and allowing the industry to benefit from sector consolidation,” it states.

     

    The report also highlights that if Star is successful in reaping benefits out of its new RIO policy, other big networks may follow suit, though not in the immediate 12 months.

     

    This apart, HSBC also sees broadband ARPUs increasing with a more robust DOCSIS 3.0 platform but with a slight concern on the slow pace of subscriber net addition. The delay in digitisation is positive for cable TV industry to consolidate market share in the first two phases. Side by side, issues such as revenue share and prepaid billing can be sorted and easily applied in phases III and IV.

     

    HSBC has raised its medium- term EBITDA estimates by 11 per cent (FY16e-21e CAGR of 13.5 per cent), cable TV ARPU assumptions by 12 per cent (FY16e-21e CAGR of 11 per cent) and broadband ARPU by 8 per cent for the same period.

     

  • LMOs demand Star channels on a la carte, or face switch off, non-payment of monthly charges

    LMOs demand Star channels on a la carte, or face switch off, non-payment of monthly charges

    MUMBAI: The multi system operators (MSOs) and broadcaster Star India could have moved into the no-war zone, after Star declared that it would give its channels only on the basis of Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO). While this led to MSOs going ahead and declaring that the network’s channels will now be given to consumers only on a la carte, the incentives given by Star, melted most.  Unhappy now are the last mile owners (LMOs), who fear losing their subscribers.

     

    Leading the way is Maharashtra Cable Operators Federation (MCOF) president Arvind Prabhoo, who today called for a meeting, which was attended by close to 400-500 LMOs. The agenda of the meeting was simple: Getting Star channels only on a la carte.

     

    “While the MSOs had earlier said that the Star channels will be available on a la carte, suddenly everyone is switching on the Star channels and including it in the existing packs,” informs Prabhoo.

     

    The LMOs in the meeting took two resolutions. “The first one is that we will meet at least two MSOs tomorrow (25 November) and tell them that they should remove the Star channels from the packages and sell it only on a la carte,” he says.

     

    MCOF will meet InCable and Hathway Cable and Datacom first and then move on to meeting Siti Cable and Den Networks. “We don’t want any of the Star channels in any of the packs. We will go to our customers and ask them for the channels they want to watch and bill them only for those as per the published a la carte rate,” he adds.

     

    The LMOs will first request the MSOs to put the channels on a la carte, on immediate basis. “But if this doesn’t happen, we will start switching off the STBs on our own and also will not pay the MSOs the monthly charges,” informs Prabhoo, who says whatever they are demanding is as per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regulation.

     

    The second resolution passed is on the interconnect agreement which was drafted months ago by MCOF as per the suggestion given to TRAI and also accepted by both InCable and Hathway. “Though they had agreed to the interconnect agreement drafted, they have still have not signed it. We are going to ask them to sign it or else have decided not to pay them the monthly charges,” he says.

     

    According to Prabhoo, the move has been taken as the LMOs are losing their subscribers to the direct to home (DTH) players. “It is getting difficult to manage the business,” concludes Prabhoo.

  • TDSAT to hear petition challenging TRAI’s DAS tariff relating to commercial subscribers on 5 December

    TDSAT to hear petition challenging TRAI’s DAS tariff relating to commercial subscribers on 5 December

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) will hear on 5 December the petition by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) challenging the DAS tariff order issued in July by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) relating to commercial subscribers.

     
    When the issue came up in the Tribunal, counsel Abhishek Malhotra who represents the IBF said he needed time to file a rejoinder to the reply filed by TRAI following a notice in this regard in September.

     
    In the tariff order, TRAI had said commercial establishments who do not specifically charge its clients/guests on account of providing/showing television programmes and offer such services as part of amenities are to be treated like ordinary subscribers wherein the charges would be on per television basis.

     
    In cases where commercial subscribers specifically charge its clients/guests on account of providing/showing television programmes the tariff would be as mutually agreed between the broadcaster and the commercial subscriber.
     

    TRAI had also said that the commercial subscriber was to obtain television service only from a distribution platform operator (MSO/DTH Operator/IPTV operator/HITS operator).

     
    The tariff order amendment has been brought out as per the directions of the Supreme Court. It is expected that with the coming into force of these changes in the regulatory framework, the distribution of TV services to the commercial subscribers would be streamlined and the services would be available to them at competitive rates.

     

  • Nodal monitoring units for DAS to be formed by mid-January, task force to meet every month

    Nodal monitoring units for DAS to be formed by mid-January, task force to meet every month

    NEW DELHI: A total of 11 crore set top boxes (STBs) will be needed for the third and final phase of digital addressable system of which only three crore will be for direct-to-home (DTH) platforms.

     
    The Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) says the requirements for phase III have been worked out on the basis of census 2011 data and the compiled data will be sent to state governments for vetting.
     

    The data for TV households is also being collected from the Registrar General and Census Commissioner for verification.

     
    The Ministry, which claims that manufacturers have assured it of adequate supplies of STBs, has constituted a publicity committee and begun issuing advertisements in newspapers and the electronic media in this regard to encourage multi-system operators to place orders.

     
    During the recent task force meeting for the next two phases of DAS, the Ministry said it will facilitate a meeting of manufacturers of indigenous STBs and MSOs in view of complaints by the manufacturers that no orders were being placed for the STBs.

     
    A multi-lingual call centre will be set up by the end of February, and 12 nodal regional monitoring units will begin working by 15 January. The task force will meet every on the second Wednesday of every month.

     
    The task force meeting under the chairmanship of Ministry additional secretary J S Mathur was also addressed by the advisor for DAS Yogendra Pal.

     
    A road map has been prepared by the government for the final two phases, and MSOs have been asked to apply by 21 December this year for licences.

     
    The Home Ministry will clear all security licences within 90 days, the meeting was informed.

     
    Publicity awareness campaigns have also commenced, for which a Publicity Committee has been formed.

     
    The Department of Information Technology is in the process of developing an Indian cable access system that will be ready in a year and will make interoperability of STBs possible. A participant pointed out that there was still the issue of certification involved in the embedment of CAS in set top box manufactured by the domestic STB manufacturers. The integration of CAS with the STB is a time consuming process and indigenous STB manufacturers must clear the apprehensions on this account.

     
    The long pending demand of “C” Form had been resolved to give fillip to domestic manufacturing of STBs.

     
    Interestingly, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has not attended any of the two task force meetings, a point noted by several participants. However, Mathur said TRAI was being apprised of the proceedings.

     
    The Ministry officials said that MSOs could simply download the forms for registration and did not have to come to the Ministry.

     
    A participant pointed out that the carriage fee which had fallen initially after announcement of DAS had again shot up. Others said issues relating to billing, packaging and reference interconnect order had still not been ironed out by TRAI.

     
    There was also a reference to entertainment tax, and it was stated by some participants that the Uttar Pradesh Government had sharply raised this tax.

     

  • Calcutta HC extends Digicable Comm’s interim stay by eight weeks

    Calcutta HC extends Digicable Comm’s interim stay by eight weeks

    KOLKATA: Granting relief to Digicable Comm, the Calcutta High Court has extended the interim stay by eight weeks.

    “Today, our matter was listed in Court No. 8 of the High Court under Justice Nadira Patheria with regards to Digicable Comm’s DAS licence for Kolkata and Howrah. The Court has allowed further extension of interim stay by eight weeks,” said Digicable Comm Services VP-operations & technology Lokesh Agarwal.

    Earlier also, the Calcutta High Court had put a stay order on the cancellation of the registration of the Kolkata-based multi-system operator (MSO) till 28 November, saying “Digicable Comm which has been in business for quite some time would suffer irreparable loss and injury, unless appropriate ad-interim protection is granted to them.”

    While the extension has been granted, the MSO is yet to get clarity on whether the extension, that is eight weeks, in this case, would be calculated from 28 November 2014 or 17 November 2014.
    If Digicable Comm is given eight weeks starting 17 November, then the interim extension will be till 17 January 2015.

    It should be noted that in July, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had cancelled the registration of Digicable Comm Services.

    Digicable Comm, a joint venture between Digicable (51 per cent) and Kolkata-headquartered Multicar Group (49 per cent) was formed in the year 2009, to gain foothold in the West Bengal market.
    Digicable Comm is hopeful that after appealing to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and moving to the High Court, the decision would be in its favour. “We are happy to get the stay order extended from the High Court,” added Agarwal.

    It should be noted that MHA cancelled the company’s permanent registration on 18 July due to denial of security clearance.

    Digicable Com which once had more than four lakh connections in the KM Area is left with around 25,000 set top boxes (STBs). “We will follow the mandates. We are hopeful that the authorities would consider the minute details presented by us,” concluded Agarwal.
     

     

  • I&B Ministry to study why MSOs are not taking indigenous STBs

    I&B Ministry to study why MSOs are not taking indigenous STBs

    NEW DELHI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) will facilitate a meeting of manufacturers of indigenous set top boxes (STBs) and multi-system operators (MSOs) next week in view of complaints by the manufacturers that no orders were being placed for their STBs.

     

    This was decided at a meeting of the Task Force which will oversee the next two phases of digital addressable system (DAS) and which met under the chairmanship of Ministry Additional Secretary J S Mathur here today.

     

    Earlier this week, the manufacturers had met Ministry secretary Bimal Julka and made the same complaint.

     

    The participants were apprised that around 3.5 households had to be covered in the third phase of digitisation.

     

    A Ministry source told indiantelevision.com that the meeting discussed various roadblocks on the road to full digitisation and ways to overcome these hurdles.

     

    Star India legal & regulatory senior vice president Pulak Bagchi, who is also the representative of the broadcasters said emphatically that broadcasters would support voluntary transition to DAS as long as there were some ground rules.

     

    He also said that broadcasters were prepared to give concessions to operators switching over to DAS provided the operators totally stopped analogue transmission.

     

    Bagchi also said that it should be made mandatory that any MSO or local cable operator who switches over to DAS should switch off analogue and not run both systems.

     

    The meeting was attended by around 20 people and included representatives of trade bodies like FICCI and CII, apart from MSOs, LCOs and DAS advisor Yogendra Pal.

     

  • Siti Cable could go prepaid within three months

    Siti Cable could go prepaid within three months

    MUMBAI: National multi system operator (MSO) Siti Cable is looking at options of going prepaid.

    While the MSO will test the viability of the model in Delhi first, it will also replicate it in other states, at a later stage. “What we have seen is that whatever we do in the Delhi market, when replicated outside, works well,” says Siti Cable CEO VD Wadhwa.

    The prepaid model that Siti Cable is looking at will be based on the local cable operator (LCO) depositing an advance to the MSO and then collecting the same from the consumer.  “We have given the power of managing the subscriber management system (SMS) to the LCO, so they can change packages or switch on or switch off boxes of customers who do not pay them the cable TV bill,” informs Wadhwa.
    The LCO according to the prepaid model will get the signals from the MSO so long as his credit balance remains. “The LCO will have to keep renewing his credit balance to get uninterrupted services, the moment his balance becomes zero, we will disconnect the signal,” he says.

    The LCOs through this model will have to find the defaulters and take corrective action accordingly. The key to moving prepaid is to give access of SMS to the LCOs.

    Not only this, going forward the LCOs can also make the system prepaid at their end by billing the customers in advance. This will also help the LCOs find out defaulters.

    While Siti Cable also has the option of recharging through their website, they have realised it upsets the LCOs. “We have to build the trust between the LCOs and MSO and let the LCO handle the customers,” he opines.

    Wadhwa is hopeful that the system will be in place within three months.

     

  • Cisco powers Siti Cable’s DOCSIS 3.0 technology for broadband

    Cisco powers Siti Cable’s DOCSIS 3.0 technology for broadband

    MUMBAI: Siti Cable, that controls nearly 4.3 million digital cable TV subscribers, has chosen Cisco to boost its broadband. The tech company will provide DOCSIS 3.0 technology for its broadband service in the country.

    Through this, the MSO will be offering speed of up to 100 mbps. DOCSIS 3.0 can offer download speed of upto 300 mbps per subscriber and the upload capacity up to 100 mbps. As earlier reported by indiantelevision.com, this technology has been launched in Delhi and NCR.

    Speaking on the association, Siti Cable CEO VD Wadhwa said, “It is an absolute pleasure to be introducing our broadband service. We plan to accelerate the deployment to capitalise on the enormous business potential this market currently holds. With the deployment of this technology, we are uniquely positioned to offer superior Internet browsing, video streaming, video surveillance and rich media content on the same coaxial cable that delivers high-quality digital cable TV signals. We will offer much higher speed at highly competitive price. We are confident that Cisco’s technological expertise will help us in the achievement of this goal.”

    Cisco India and SAARC service provider sales managing director Sanjay Kaul said, “It is commendable to see Cisco’s vision, to be the leading enabler of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) and broadband acceleration in India, coming closer to reality. We believe that the cable TV industry has the potential to transform the broadband industry in India and would like to congratulate Siti Cable for marking an important milestone on this roadmap.”

     

  • No MSO carrying more than 386 TV channels in first quarter of fiscal 2014-15: TRAI

    No MSO carrying more than 386 TV channels in first quarter of fiscal 2014-15: TRAI

    NEW DELHI: The maximum number of TV channels being carried by any reporting multi-system operator in the first quarter ending June 2014 of the current fiscal is 386, according to a report by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

     In conventional analogue form, the maximum number of channels being carried by any reporting MSO is 100.

     There were a total of 186 pay channels as reported by broadcasters for which the wholesale channels rates have been taken on record.

     During the quarter ending June 2014, the distribution of “Fox Sports News” channel was discontinued by the broadcaster.

     Apart from All India Radio, there are 243 private FM Radio stations in operation at the quarter ending June, 2014, according to information supplied by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

     TRAI said no new DTH license was issued during the quarter ending June 2014.

     At present apart from the Freedish DTH service of Doordarshan, there are six private DTH Operators. All the six private DTH Operators are offering pay DTH services.

     The total number of registered subscribers and active subscribers being served by these six private DTH operators, as reported to TRAI, are 67.57 million and 38.24 million respectively as on 30 June 2014.

     The total number of Internet subscribers has increased from 251.59 million at the end of Mar-14 to 259.14 million at the end of Jun-14 there has been a quarterly growth of 3.00 per cent. Out of which wired internet subscribers are 18.55 million and wireless internet subscribers are 240.60 million.

     Number of broadband internet subscribers increased from 60.87 million at the end of March to 68.83 million at the end of June with quarter growth of 13.07 per cent.

     The number of narrowband internet subscribers has slightly declined from 190.72 million at the end of March to 190.31 million at the end of June with quarterly growth of -0.21 per cent.

     The license fee increased from Rs 3286 crore for the QE March to Rs 3503 crore for the QE June. The quarterly and the year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth rates of license fee are 6.62% and 13.30 per cent, respectively in this quarter.

     Access services contributed 78.48  per cent of the total Adjusted Gross Revenue of telecom services. In access services, gross revenue, adjusted gross revenue (AGR), license fee and spectrum usage charges increased by 4.64 per cent, 7.81 per cent, 7.62 per cent and 8.61 per cent,  respectively, whereas Pass Through Charges decreased by 2.96 per cent in QE June.

     

    The Monthly Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for Access Services based on AGR increased from Rs 115.28 in QE March to Rs122.39 in QE June.

     Monthly Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for GSM service increased by 4.84%, from Rs113 in QE March to Rs 119 in QE June, whereas Y-O-Y increase of 6.72%.

     Prepaid ARPU for GSM service per month increased from Rs 99 in QE March to Rs 104 in QE June, and Postpaid ARPU per month increased from Rs 453 in QE March to Rs 469 in QE June.

     On an all India average, the overall MOU per subscriber per month for GSM service increased by 0.42% from 389 in QE March to Rs 390 in QE June.

    Prepaid MOU per subscriber for GSM service increased from 365 in QE March to 366 in QE June and postpaid MOUs increased from Rs 957 in QE March to Rs 961 in QE June.

     The Monthly ARPU for CDMA full mobility service increased by 6.22%, from Rs 105 in QE March to Rs 112 in QE June. ARPU for CDMA has increased by 13.4% on Y-O-Y basis in this

     

  • 131 MSOs get ten year licences under DAS for specified areas

    131 MSOs get ten year licences under DAS for specified areas

    NEW DELHI: A total of 131 multi-system operators (MSO) all over the country have been granted permanent registration for ten years to operate the digital addressable system (DAS).

     

    The MSOs had been given provisional permission earlier. The latest list is as on 7 November.

     

    The MSOs who have received permission after the last list released as on 21 August include Skynet Digital Services for the state of Uttar Pradesh except the cities of Agra, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut and Varanasi; Crystal Transmission for Chennai Metropolitan area, Sanghvi Digital Network for Bokaro district in Jharkhand; Vortex Digital Network for Delhi; Yerraguntla Cable Network for Kadapa District Andhra Pradesh under Phase III and IV; and Royal Services Diginet Vision for Hamirpur District, Mandi District and Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh.

     

    Others include Silverline Entertainment the state of Uttar Pradesh except Agra, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut and Varanasi; Hathway New Concept Cable and Datacom for Delhi; ACN Digital for the state of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra under under Phase III and IV; Koduri Satyanarayana, Sri Sai Star for Khammam District of Telengana; Abhilash Communications for  Notified Areas of Phase  II and Phase  III cities pan India; JPR Channel Mumbai (Phase I) and Phase II areas in Maharashtra and Gujarat; Operator Digital Tamil Nadu for all the cities, towns and villages of Phase II,III and  IV in Tamil Nadu; V K Digital Network for Cities/Towns/Areas occurring against Phase I, Phase II, Phase III, Phase IV; Saga Entertainment Network In Tamil Nadu; Talacher TV Home Cable Network for  Angul District and Dhenkanal District, Odissa; Voice and Vision Club for Phase III and  IV of Madhya Pradesh and Sonebhadra Districts of Uttar Pradesh; Den Satellite Network in Maharashtra; and Venkata Sai Media for district of Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Visakhapatanam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore in the state of Andhra Pradesh and in the district of Greater Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Medak, Nizamabad, Mehaboob Nagar, Warangal, Sangareddy and Khammam in the state of Telangana.

     

    The list of MSOs who have been refused permission has gone up from 16 to 22.

     

    MSO sources, however, said that the approved list was in addition to the 140 whose names had been approved earlier in March last year.

     

    The Ministry website mib.nic.in has listed the areas and the date from which the MSOs have been given permission.