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Tag: Rajan Gupta

  • “For aspiring entrepreneurs, my advice would be to prioritize innovation, adaptability, and resilience”: Rajan Gupta

    “For aspiring entrepreneurs, my advice would be to prioritize innovation, adaptability, and resilience”: Rajan Gupta

    Mumbai: Started in 2010, 10x Make it Happen is India’s renowned management consulting firm that has helped more than 100+ companies multiply their sales and profitability. The firm multiplies its revenue and profits by building powerful consumer brands and high-growth Sales Ecosystems.

    10x Make it Happen is the only company that develops a 360-degree ‘make it happen’ blue-print encompassing everything needed to accomplish extraordinary growth and also works with clients to execute the same transformation projects in mission-mode, and deliver the results.

    It has pioneered the art and science of building fail-safe execution designs as part of its SPEAR framework. It has worked closely with more than 100+ companies including Ozone India, KEI Wires and Cables, Religare, Escorts, East Auto Power Limited. and many others.

    Rajan Gupta is an entrepreneur with multiple ventures, an investor, and globally renowned coach having helped thousands of enterprises and individuals to success. With more than two decades of experience, Rajan has been helping medium and large enterprises with critical transformations and mentoring start-ups and entrepreneurs until they stabilize their business model and are ready for scale-up funding.

    Indiantelevision.com had the opportunity of catching up with Make it Happen director Rajan Gupta. During the conversation, Gupta shared the fascinating journey and inspiration behind the inception of 10x Make it Happen.

    Edited excerpts

    On the inspiration to start 10x Make it Happen, and how has your journey been since its inception

    The inspiration to start 10x Make it Happen stemmed from a passion for helping businesses unlock their full potential and achieve exponential growth. Recognizing the common struggles that entrepreneurs face in scaling their ventures, we wanted to create a platform that provides strategic guidance, innovative solutions, and actionable insights. Our mission is to empower businesses to overcome obstacles and seize opportunities for remarkable growth.

    Since its inception, the journey has been enriching and transformative. We’ve had the privilege of working with diverse clients across various industries, helping them achieve substantial growth and success. Our team has continually evolved, embracing new technologies and methodologies to stay ahead of market trends. The success stories of our clients and the measurable impact we’ve made on their businesses fuel our drive and commitment to excellence. Each milestone reinforces our belief in the power of strategic growth and the potential of every business we serve.

    On embedding cash flow strategies into your clients business models

    Embedding cash flow strategies into clients’ business models involves optimizing revenue streams, managing expenses, and forecasting cash needs to ensure liquidity. This includes implementing efficient billing practices, controlling costs, and investing in high-return opportunities. By focusing on cash flow management, businesses can maintain financial stability, enabling them to seize growth opportunities and scale operations effectively. This is critical for achieving 10x growth as it ensures the company has the necessary resources to invest in innovation, expand market reach, and respond to market changes swiftly. Strong cash flow strategies provide the financial agility needed to support rapid and sustainable growth, making them a cornerstone of successful business scaling.

    On leveraging technology to drive growth for its clients

    Leveraging technology to drive growth for clients involves implementing advanced analytics, automating processes, and enhancing digital presence. By utilizing data analytics, businesses can gain insights into customer behavior, optimize marketing strategies, and make informed decisions. Automation tools streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve efficiency, allowing clients to focus on core business activities. Enhancing digital presence through SEO, social media, and e-commerce platforms expands market reach and boosts sales. Additionally, integrating CRM systems helps manage customer relationships and improve service quality. These technological advancements enable clients to scale their operations, increase productivity, and achieve significant growth by staying competitive and responsive to market demands.

    On your leadership helping carve a distinctive niche in the market for 10x Make it Happen

    As the leader of 10x Make it Happen, my approach has been rooted in innovation, agility, and a deep understanding of market dynamics. By fostering a culture of creativity and encouraging out-of-the-box thinking, we’ve consistently stayed ahead of trends and identified unique opportunities in the market. Our strategic vision has enabled us to carve out a distinctive niche by offering unparalleled solutions that address evolving customer needs. Through effective communication and collaboration, we’ve built strong partnerships and leveraged our expertise to deliver value-driven products and services. Our commitment to excellence and continuous improvement has earned us a reputation for reliability and innovation, further solidifying our position in the market. By consistently pushing boundaries and challenging the status quo, 10x Make it Happen has become synonymous with groundbreaking solutions, setting us apart from competitors and establishing a strong foothold in our niche.

    On advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who wish to achieve significant growth in their ventures

    For aspiring entrepreneurs seeking significant growth in their ventures, my advice would be to prioritize innovation, adaptability, and resilience. Embrace change and continuously seek ways to improve your products, services, and processes to stay ahead of the competition. Build a strong network of mentors, advisors, and collaborators who can offer guidance and support. Additionally, never underestimate the power of perseverance and grit; setbacks are inevitable, but how you respond to them will determine your success. Stay focused on your long-term goals while remaining flexible enough to pivot when necessary. Finally, prioritize customer satisfaction and feedback, as they are essential drivers of sustainable growth.

    On your growth targeting for the next five years, and how do you plan to achieve them

    In the coming years, we aim to expand our collaboration with large corporations and emerging startups. Our objective is to provide them with strategic guidance to foster their growth. We are committed to remaining adaptable and evolving alongside our clients to respond to industry changes effectively.

  • 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.

  • GTPL Hathway earmarks Rs 400 crore capex for FY22

    GTPL Hathway earmarks Rs 400 crore capex for FY22

    KOLKATA: Pan India multi-system operator (MSO) GTPL Hathway is increasing its capex projection for FY22 to Rs 400 crore, compared to Rs 335 crore it invested in FY21, a top executive revealed in an investors call.

    Out of the overall capex projected for this financial year, Rs 225 crore to Rs 230 crore will be invested in the broadband segment, while the rest is going to be deployed for the cable TV side, especially for expansion in new markets. All capex will be funded through internal accruals only. The company is not looking forward to any fund raising activity at this point of time, GTPL Hathway cable TV head and chief strategy officer Piyush Pankaj noted.

    Earlier, the MSO revealed its plans to grow its cable TV subscriber base by more than 50 per cent in the next three years. While the growth in FY21 was flat, the company has cited the  decline in commercial connections as reason for the sluggish addition. 

    “The hotels, corporates, housekeeping, offices, small offices and all, which have not come back totally because of the pandemic. We are looking forward that in the normal scenario this business will grow. The residential customers are growing. We have connected around half a million more residential houses in the pandemic. We are looking forward that we will continue to grow,” Pankaj commented.

    GTPL Hathway is excited about six new states it entered for potential organic growth. Moreover, there is a lot of opportunity for consolidation, Pankaj added. It is already on the verge of executing some deals. While pandemic came in the way to executing deals in FY21, it is looking at closing the consolidation deals as the situation improves going forward.

    Overall, the cable TV market has been growing from anything between four to seven per cent CAGR, mentioned GTPL Hathway chairman and non-executive director Rajan Gupta. It varies from state to state, where states like Odisha have grown higher.

    It is also optimistic about maintaining its broadband additions as well, which is around 60,000 quarterly. “If you see 31 March 2020, we were showing the ISP internet service at around Rs 5 crore, which has increased to Rs 43 crore in 2021, quarter-to-quarter it is down, but year-to-year it is ten times more,” GTPL Hathway promoter and MD Anirudhsinh Jadeja highlighted.

    Rather than increasing broadband ARPU, the current focus is to create the broadband market where it enjoys a high market share in cable like Gujarat. As upgradation happens from LAN to FTTH, there will be some ARPU increase, said  Gupta. The shift in ARPU with change in connection happened last year, and he expects the momentum to continue.

    GTPL Hathway planned to launch hybrid boxes in Q4FY21, but production has been delayed due to the pandemic. The boxes are ready and they are getting shipped, Pankaj stated.

    While Jio is adding broadband subscribers aggressively, Jadeja claims it is not a competitor yet. “It is good now that Jio is also our partner and we might say that we are getting the cost synergy benefits related to the content, infrastructure, or whatever Jio’s expertise is for the overall industry,”  remarked Jadeja.

    “Jio’s market is spread in Ahmedabad, Baroda, Surat, and some other cities in Gujarat. GTPL covers almost the majority of Gujarat with a presence in 100 towns. The major competitor is BSNL and there are no other players,” he added.

  • GTPL Hathway believes NTO 2.0 won’t affect price stability

    GTPL Hathway believes NTO 2.0 won’t affect price stability

    MUMBAI: At the very beginning of 2020, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued fresh amendments to the New Tariff Order (NTO) within less than one year of its implementation. Rattled by the sudden change, the stakeholders in the industry seem to be displeased. But in contrast, GTPL Hathway believes NTO 2.0 is an extension of NTO 1.0 and price stability in the market will continue despite the revision.

    “There is NCF for Rs 160 in the new NTO and there is NCF Rs 130 in the earlier NTO plus we could charge additional Rs 20 for every additional 25 channels, so broadly speaking, from a short-term perspective, they are more or less similar kind of thing. So, NCF has a big portion of earning. That is something which is more or less protected while one can debate on what kind of future impact it will have after three years, after five years, but from a short-term perspective that is protected,” GTPL Hathway chairman and non-executive director  Rajan Gupta said in an earnings call after q3 result.

    “In fact, we have the ability to charge Rs 30 more in case market forces allow us to charge and GTPL being high market share in many territories, they should have the ability to charge higher and we are happy about the consumer. I think consumers will have more choices,” he added.

    According to Gupta, DPOs with higher market share should be able to make many more relevant bouquets for consumers, for example, genre-level bouquet while currently bouquets are limited to five-six, which is more based on the ARPU slabs.  He said having very micro bouquets is also needed.  He stated that can happen with NTO 2.0 on the back of flexibility it offers for DPOs.

    Although he mentioned this is not a full assessment on NTO 2.0 but the MSO believes on the basis of the initial assessment that it should see a lot of stability in earnings and cash flow.

    “It is too early to speak about how the ARPU will happen in NTO 2.0. In NTO 1.0, if you see this quarter, our ARPU has stood at around Rs 118 and we are expecting that it will go up in q4. We have gone down by Re 1- Rs 1.5 because of the festive offer given by the broadcasters. We are expecting that in q4, it will go up as the festive offer is over. Right now, we have to wait to see what new bouquets, new channel prices come from the broadcasters in NTO 2.0 and only after the assessment, we can comment on NTO 2.0 ARPU,” GTPL Hathway  Cable TV business head and chief strategy officer Piyush Pankaj said.

    He also added that it is not certain right now if less money will be coming from customers because it depends on what type of bouquets and a-la-carte price the broadcasters will come through. But he said there is price stability in the market during the last one year and they believe price stability would continue.

  • Den Networks CEO SN Sharma takes over from Hathway’s Rajan Gupta as AIDCF president

    Den Networks CEO SN Sharma takes over from Hathway’s Rajan Gupta as AIDCF president

    New Delhi: All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF), the apex body of digital cable television players, announces the appointment of Mr. S N Sharma (CEO – Den Networks Limited) as the new President of the Federation with effect from 1st  April 2019 post expiration of term of Mr. Rajan Gupta – current President.

    Mr. Gupta commented that, “I am delighted to handover the presidency to Mr. Sharma.  It had been an event filled last couple of years at AIDCF, where we successfully migrated into the digital regime and ensured that New Tariff Regime becomes a reality, thereby empowering the consumers. I would like to thank all the members of AIDCF, without whose support this journey would not have been possible” Commenting on his appointment as the new AIDCF President, Mr. S.N. SHARMA said, “It is an honour for me to take the baton of leading AIDCF from Mr. Gupta and carrying it forward in the direction of realizing ‘The dream of Digital India’. All the esteemed members and I will continue to work as a team to resolve the issues and enhance the overall growth of Cable Television. Our priority will be making the new Tariff Regime hassle free so that that there is no inconvenience to the consumers. We will encourage and value the constructive suggestions and feedbacks.

  • Hathway to target existing users for new OTT, cable hybrid STBs

    Hathway to target existing users for new OTT, cable hybrid STBs

    MUMBAI: Indian consumers are not losing interest in linear TV anytime soon but one can’t be too wary given the OTT burst. To stay ahead of the game, Hathway has unveiled two new products – an OTT set-top box and a cable hybrid box. Both of the boxes have been priced at Rs 2999.

    80 per cent of Hathway’s target will be existing users who can upgrade to the new hybrid box while 20 per cent will be new customers. As on 30 June, it had 7.2 million cable TV subscribers. Overall, the company is hoping to sell 100,000 STBs each month. The box production capacity is the same as before for now but if the volume of response explodes, it can even double it.

    The newly introduced boxes will be available to the local cable operators from 15 October and consumer registrations will start by 1 November.  For initial rollout, the company will work closely with local cable operators.

    Hathway Play Box, the OTT set-top box is based on Google’s Android TV. The remote carries a dedicated YouTube, Netflix and Google Play button. It will also have voice-enabled Google assistant and inbuilt Chromecast. The hybrid cable box named as Hathway Ultra Smart HUB combines linear TV with Play services in HDR quality along with easy navigation. It will enable users to download apps from the Google Play store also.

    “When we developed Ultra Smart Hub, the most important aspect has been listening to our customers to understand their needs regarding their TV viewing. We see a clear shift in consumption in content today compared to earlier. Indian consumers today want a mix of traditional linear television viewing combined with on-demand or streaming services. With the Smart Hub we have a product that meets their expectations,” Hathway Cable and Datacom MD Rajan Gupta said.

    There is a slight difference in the usage of both. The cable hybrid boxes can be made available in areas where Hathway has its cable infrastructure while the OTT has an advantage. It can reach areas where there’s no cable but Hathway’s broadband service is offered.

    The new boxes can lead to the company’s ARPU growth also. He hopes top 25 per cent of consumers will go for OTT services. “In general, any OTT service providers will be more than happy to do such tie-ups because it will help them increasing reach,” he also added.

    “Starting 1 December we will have a TVC for this product. Our marketing team is working on a 360-degree marketing campaign. Creating awareness, right from metros, mini metros to rural will be the key. We will also be working closely with our LCO partners. In fact, we will be rolling out first with them and apart from TVC we will also take help from them to create awareness,” he added.

    In the previous investors call from the Q1 financial result, Gupta mentioned the necessity of an innovative model, bundling IoT, cable with current pay TV and OTT. He had said that the company is working on it and would announce something soon.

    "We are pleased to be working with Hathway and look forward to leveraging their extensive broadband and cable network to enable more exciting and useful Android TV experiences for consumers," Android, Chrome & Play Business Development head India Pranab Mookken commented.

  • Hathway to show Netflix content with new STB

    Hathway to show Netflix content with new STB

    MUMBAI: Hathway has taken the step ahead to bridge the gap between TV and OTT by landing a deal with giant Netflix. Consumers will get seamless access to Netflix through the Hathway set top box. While there will be a dedicated Netflix button on the remote of the set top box, Hathway subscribers will be able to pay for Netflix subscription using the Hathway bill.

    The introductory price for set top box has been set at Rs 2,999. All existing and new Hathway broadband consumers, who subscribe to Netflix and pay through their Hathway bill for their Netflix subscription, will receive this box for free.

    “In this smart and digital era, customers are looking at leading internet entertainment services like Netflix to access high quality, well produced entertainment. The soon-to-be launched Hathway set top box will make watching streaming videos on large screens an incredible experience. The Hathway set top box will be bundled with our high-speed, unlimited fibre-to-home monthly plans,”  Hathway MD Rajan Gupta said.

    In the changing content scenario, both OTT platforms and internet service providers are getting into deals to expand consumer reach. While for Netflix it is an important deal to reach local consumers, Hathway will also be able to lure customers on the back of the OTT platform’s content library. Moreover, when Jio is gearing up to roll out its fibre to home service, all other existing players have started changing their strategy.

     “We’re very excited to partner with Hathway Broadband in India to bring the latest technologies and great stories under one roof. The Hathway set top box will allow Hathway’s customers to use the Netflix button on their remote controls to seamlessly access and enjoy the best entertainment at high speeds,” Netflix Asia business development VP Tony Zameczkowski said.

  • Hathway focuses on high data usage consumers to grow broadband

    Hathway focuses on high data usage consumers to grow broadband

    MUMBAI: Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd (HCDL), which has been one of the major players both in broadband and cable business, could be most vulnerable to the changes in the ecosphere given that much of its business is urban-centric. Now, the company is focusing on high data usage customers (more than 80 GB per month users) to remain relevant in the competition and the company will roll out more plans around this segment very soon. To have a more stable and loyal subscriber base, apart from 30,000 regular churn, it had 57,000 forced churn from low speed, low data consumption consumers.

    The company had to take the step of forced regular churn because it did not want to utilize capex for them. Low pricing data plans from networks can easily lure the customers who use less than 40 GB data per month increasing the churn rate of the service provider. Especially, the bucket of 0-20 GB data has more low pricing deal seeking tendency as HCDL MD Rajan Gupta said in an earnings call. Though the company is focusing on retaining 80 GB data users, he also mentioned there’s no stress in the bucket of more than 40 GB usage.

    “These customers, who were anyway not using the network, are suddenly getting the same 12-20 GB for Rs 200 even on post-paid, even with the reputed number 1 and number 2 players. So these people from January- February started asking for more and more deals. So we had two options. We could have given them deals and maintained them at Rs 300 ARPU. But then I’m blocking my capex, my CMTS, my network hubs, my data centre, which will prevent me from giving that sort of quality service to all my high data users, or I have to put much more capex. We didn’t want either of the scenarios,” Gupta explained the logic behind cleaning up “non-productive base”.

    While the company currently stands with 5.5 million home passes, for the rest of this financial year it will not expand home passes any more. The focus will be on adding high usage customers within the current network. The strategy is to initially invest in growing this base through a mix of FTTH, pay TV, OTT and IoT services. In few select cities, the plan of offering home services bundling solutions along with high-speed data has already been rolled out on a four-month plan. Gupta claims to see 10 per cent increase in gross addition in those particular geographies while six to seven per cent current consumers are upgrading to it.

    But before coming up with extravagant marketing strategy, it wants to get the right product first. In the next three to four months, the company will master the product and overall service. However, while ARPU has declined to Rs 690 this quarter, the initial focus is on adding value to the service of high usage customers rather than expecting a return in ARPU. Basically, the plan is revolving around J-curve growth strategy where the initial focus on service will lead to harvesting revenue and higher EBITDA growth.

    Jio Giga Fiber has already lured customers with several additional amenities including Jio Giga TV set top box. In this changing scenario, Airtel and BSNL have already revised their plans. The giant DTH player Tata Sky has recently rolled out its broadband service in 12 cities. Another MSO DEN Networks has chalked out plans of working more closely with local cable operators to get a hold of last mile competition.

    However, like many other experts in the industry Gupta also emphasised that with the entry of large players, the awareness about fibre to home, high speed broadband will increase because of the PR and marketing efforts. He mentioned that out of the current 17 million wire and broadband base, only 5 million is high speed broadband. On an optimistic note, he thinks eventually this 5 million will become 17 million.

    “We want to make sure, in every market we operate, we have the best of solutions; either the ability to give even 1,000 GB to a consumer at a very low price or the ability to give speeds of 200-300 Mbps. On ARPU we’ll see 2-3 per cent reduction every quarter,” he added.

    While the company which itself is focusing so much on broadband business sensing the demand, the question rises how OTT is affecting the churn in its cable business wing. Gupta says a high number of consumers are still sticking to cable and DTH because of low monthly pricing. He adds that OTT and cable or DTH will more and more start complimenting each other over a period.

    “We don’t believe these are two very separate spaces. We believe our expertise is the last mile. We have access to consumers. Now if consumers want broadband, we are pretty much there. If consumers want OTT, we will be there. And if consumers want linear TV, which again, is not showing any sign of drop, we are already there,” he added.

    In the cable TV segment, the company plans to increase phase III, phase IV ARPU by about 15 per cent. While 6 per cent has already come in Q1 owing to the price implementation, balance effect is expected to come in Q2. In the case of the first two phases, the plan is to increase ARPU by 7 per cent. As all the price changes have been implemented from the month of August, it hopes to stabilise it by September.

    The company plans to have 25,000-28,000 gross additions per month in the next 9 months of FY19. Alongside that, the company is also focusing on doing underground fibre to increase the service to customers. As the entire fixed broadband business ecosystem gradually picks up thanks to more Indian, vernacular content on OTT platforms, Hathway is also taking more aggressive moves in the segment.

  • Hathway, Voda Play to stream YuppTV channels, movies, shows

    Hathway, Voda Play to stream YuppTV channels, movies, shows

    MUMBAI / NEW DELHI: Vodafone’s entertainment destination will contain video content. Vodafone Play has announced a partnership with OTT player for South Asian content YuppTV to make available an extensive basket of live TV channels and movies etc.

    YuppTV has also announced a content sharing partnership with the broadband service provider Hathway, which will offer monthly subscription plans for the former.

    In addition to popular movies and shows, YuppTV’s prowess in the regional content will enable Vodafone Play to strengthen its content offering, while YuppTV intends to reach out to Vodafone’s wide customer base across India.

    Yupp TV has 250+ live TV channels in 14 national and regional languages. The association is in accordance with the advent of small-screen viewership and India’s transition towards a mobile-first economy.

    Vodafone India associate director – consumer business Avneesh Khosla said: “With mobiles becoming the preferred screen for entertainment, the average time spent on smartphones daily is significantly higher than TV, demonstrating that the engagement levels provided by smartphones remain unparalleled. Our customers are constantly seeking diverse content options, especially regional content. Through this partnership, Vodafone Play subscribers get a wider choice.”

    YuppTV founder and CEO Uday Reddy said: “We are excited to present Vodafone users with our extensive services and entertainment solutions. Now, Vodafone users can simply select from the collection of YuppTV’s snackable content on-the-go.”

    “The entertainment control has shifted to the consumers who can decide what they want to watch at their convenience on multiple devices. The key is high-speed broadband and affordable price point,” Hathway MD Rajan Gupta said in a statement.

    While Vodafone and Hathway are spread across India, YuppTV has an enviable collection of entertaining content in multiple languages.

  • Rajan Gupta replaces T S Panesar as new AIDCF President

    NEW DELHI: Hathway Cable & Datacom Limited MD and chairman & non-ED of GTPL Hathway Limited Rajan Gupta has been appointed president of the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF), the apex body of digital cable television companies..

    This change has been made as Hathway Digital Pvt. Ltd CEO video business TS Panesar, the former AIDCF president, resigned from his post at Hathway some time back.

    While giving his exit statement, Panesar said, “I am resigning from the board and president’s role at AIDCF as I have put in my papers at Hathway. During my short stint at AIDCF, the federation has added new members, all of whom are regional leaders in their respective markets. Their presence will certainly help the federation in raising regional issues. I also hope that TRAI’s new regulations will become a reality soon.”

    Gupta, in a statement, said, “I am delighted to accept the president’s role at AIDCF. Digitalization journey for cable TV is almost over and focus will now shift to monetizing STBs seeded in the last few years. The Next phase of growth in the cable TV industry will come through convergence and innovative value-added services. I look forward to collaborating with all national and regional MSOs for maximizing industry revenue and profitability.”

    AIDCF secretary-general Saharsh Damani said, “With digitization almost over, I am certain that under Mr Gupta’s leadership AIDCF members will chalk-out a robust path in giving dual and triple play services to the end consumers.”

    Gupta, an engineering graduate and an MBA from IIM Bangalore, has 20 years of diverse experience across various aspects of management, sales, marketing, P&L management, revenue growth management, go-to-market strategy, business turn around and manufacturing operations across different regions of India.

    Prior to joining Hathway, he has held various leadership positions with Tata Teleservices, Hindustan Coca Cola and Asian Paints.

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