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Tag: Reliance Jio Infocomm

  • Bharti Airtel board’s special committee recommends Rs 32,000 cr rights issue

    Bharti Airtel board’s special committee recommends Rs 32,000 cr rights issue

    BENGALURU: The Sunil Mittal-headed Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel Ltd (Airtel) has informed the bourses that its board of directors (the board) in its meeting held on. Thursday, February 28, 2019, has considered the recommendations of 'Special Committee of Directors for Fund Raising' and thereby approved the fund raising of up to Rs 32,000 crore through rights issuance of upto Rs 25,000 crore; and Perpetual Bond with equity credit up to Rs 7000 crore.

    The Perpetual bond of will be up to USD 1 billion (approximately Rs 7000 crore) denominated in foreign currency subject to price, market conditions and other terms and conditions as acceptable, and with conditions allowing for full accounting equity credit and subject to all applicable laws including under ECB Regulations.

    Further, the Board approved the following terms of the Rights Issue:

    a) Rights Issue Price: Rs 220 per fully paid equity share (including a premium of Rs 215 per fully paid equity share over face value of Rs 5 per share); and

    b) Rights entitlement ratio: 19 shares for every 67 shares held by eligible shareholders as on the record date.

    Airtel has not been very effective in countering what it termed in one of its media releases Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm’s ‘predatory pricing’. The company has lost subscribers, wireless as well as wireless broad subscribers in the month of December 2018 as per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) latest monthly Telecom Reports. The company has not fared as well as in the past as per its quarterly report for the third quarter (Quarter ended December 31, 2018, Q3 2019).

  • GTPL cable TV business revenue up; broadband business keeps afloat

    GTPL cable TV business revenue up; broadband business keeps afloat

    BENGALURU: Indian multi-system operator and internet service provider GTPL Hathway Ltd (GTPL) reported 12.6 percent increase in total income for the quarter ended 31 December 2018 (Q3 2019, quarter or period under review) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter (y-o-y) Q3 2018. GTPL’s Total Income in Q3 2019 was Rs 319.91 crore, for the corresponding year ago quarter it was Rs 284.09 crore.

    GTPL has two segments – cable TV business and internet service. Every Indian broadband internet services provider has been hit by Jio. Reliance Jio Infocomm has made available low cost broadband internet services at a never before scale in India, unprecedented anywhere in the world. Most operators have been bleeding subscribers, and how! ARPUs have plummeted.

    GTPL’s internet service business has been reporting a steep decline in operating profits over the past few quarters. In Q3-2019, GTPL’s internet business was still profitable. And the company has reported that its internet subscriber base increased by 11,000 for the period under review, however at lower ARPU. For Q3 2019, internet business ARPU was Rs 430 as compared to Rs 487 in Q3 2018.

    GTPPL’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) increased 3.1 percent y-o-y in Q3 2019 to Rs 19.72 crore from Rs 19.13 crore in Q3 2018. Consolidated total comprehensive income for the period increased 2.4 percent y-o-y to Rs 19.72 crore from Rs 19.26 crore. Consolidated operating profit (EBITDA) excluding other income was almost flat – it declined 0.8 percent y-o-y in Q3 2019 to Rs 77.89 crore (24.8 percent of operating or op revenue) from Rs 78.53 crore (27.8 percent of op revenue) in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

    Segment Performance

    Cable TV business operating result increased 20.1 percent y-o-y to Rs 19.35 crore in Q3 2019 from Rs 816.11 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Operating revenue of GTPL’s cable TV business increased 14.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 278.06 crore from Rs 242.4 crore.

     GTPL’s TV business added 2,00,000 CATV digital subscribers in Q3 2019, 1,70,000 of which it says were paying subscribers. The company says that it had seeded 3,00,000 set-top boxes during the quarter under review. In all GTPL says that it seeded 0.95 crore STBs, of which 0.8 crore were active and 0.745 crore were digital paying subscribers as of 31 December 2018. GTPL’s largest subscriber base is in phase IV areas. Digital paying subscriber bases for phases I, II, III and IV were 0.066 crore, 0.169 crore, 0.226 crore and 0.283 crore respectively. ARPUs remained flat y-o-y across all the four DAS phases. ARPUs net of taxes for phases I, II, III and IV were Rs 103, Rs 102, Rs 67 and Rs 60 respectively.

    GTPL’s internet business operating revenue in Q3 2019 was almost flat – it increased 1.1 percent y-o-y to Rs 36.44 crore from Rs 36.03 crore. Internet service segment’s operating results for Q3 2019 declined by 87.9 percent y-o-y to just Rs 0.37 crore from Rs 3.03 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    GTPL says in a press release that during the quarter, it was appointed as Project Implementation Agency (PIA) of Package B for implementation of BharatNet Phase – II Project in the state of Gujarat by Gujarat Fibre Grid Network Limited (GFGNL). The company says that the project is worth Rs 1,245.77 crore. The project is on EPC bases and includes survey, design, plan, execution with active/passive (OSP + Electronics) components with commissioning of complete network.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by GTPL Hathway

    Consolidated total expenditure increased 16.3 percent y-o-y during the quarter under review to Rs 289.05 crore from Rs 248.59 crore in Q3 2018. Pay channel cost in Q3 2019 increased 26.5 percent y-o-y to Rs 137.72 crore from Rs 108.90 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Other operational costs reduced 16.5 percent y-o-y in Q3 2019 to Rs 23.99 crore from Rs 20.64 crore in Q3 2018.

    Employee benefits expense in Q3 2019 increased 18.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 37.63 crore from Rs 31.64 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Finance costs reduced 20 percent y-o-y during the quarter under review to Rs 5.86 crore from Rs 7.32 crore. Other expenses in the period reduced 3.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 37.28 crore in Q3 2019 from Rs 38.72 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    Company Speak

    GTPL Hathway managing director Anirudhasinhji Jadeja said in a press release, “In an environment of uncertainty, GTPL Hathway has continued to post steady performance. Our first 9 month revenue and PAT are up by 14 percent and 10 percent respectively; reflecting inherent strength of the company’s offerings and quality customer service. The new tariff order has put customers at the centre of the business; providing them freedom to make their own choices. As India’s one of the leading MSOs, we expect higher monetisation across the phases and better transparency as a direct fall out of the new order.”

  • Siti relooks at broadband as cable subscription drove revenues in FY18

    Siti relooks at broadband as cable subscription drove revenues in FY18

    BENGALURU: In FY 2017 (fiscal or year ended 31 March 2017, previous year), the Essel Group’s Siti Networks Ltd (Siti) was all gung-ho about broadband. In its annual report for fiscal 2017, the company said that it had become the largest multi-system operator (MSO) and a leading wired broadband services provider. The tone of the company’s 2017 annual report showed that Siti was fired up by the doubling of broadband revenue in FY 2017 as compared to FY 2016 to Rs 97 crore (about 8 per cent of total revenue for fiscal 2017) from Rs 48.6 crore (about 4 per cent of total revenue for fiscal 2016). The company’s broadband operations added 7.2 lakh home passes during the year taking the total footprint to 16.1 lakh homes. Broadband customer base grew to 2.28 lakh by Q4 2017 exit, up 73 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y). Further, Siti said in its FY 2017 annual report that it planned to channelise more capital to its broadband division, which it then felt was a highly scalable opportunity.

    Cut to FY 2018 and the story has changed. Siti’s broadband operations with a total footprint of 16.8 lakh homes had a base of 2.5 lakh customers.  Siti added just about 22,000 broadband subscribers in fiscal 2018, and y-o-y broadband revenues grew by only 4 per cent to Rs 101 crore in FY 2018.The company said that it was working on building a growth strategy in the sector.

    Quoting from its fiscal 2018 Annual report:

    “We are also looking closely at better and centralised inventory controls, besides identifying unsustainable locations running on IP bandwidth with the objective of phasing them out. We also aim to focus more aggressively on high definition (HD) penetration, broadband expansion, and improving monetisation in digital addressable system (DAS) phase III and IV areas.”

    At another place in the 2018 annual report Siti states:

    “In broadband, your company is looking to deepen its penetration levels in its existing markets to better utilise existing capital expenditure incurred. Going forward, we are also looking to arrive at an ideal business model that will allow us to grow profitably and sustainably in this segment, especially considering the disruptive pricing environment prevalent in mobile internet currently and the entry on new entities in wired broadband.”

    It must be noted that broadband contributed to just about 8 percent and 7 percent to Siti’s revenues in FY 2017 and FY 2018 respectively. Cable business is and has been the major revenue earner for Siti.

    While its broadband business has not met with Siti’s expectations, its cable business and more so subscription revenue has been the revenue growth driver. Cable subscription (Video) revenue in FY 2017 grew 39 per cent to Rs 569 crore as compared to Rs 410.2 crore in FY 2016. Siti’s cable subscription revenue grew 41 per cent in fiscal 2018 to Rs 799.7 crore as compared to the previous year. Carriage revenue, which had grown by 17 per cent in FY 2017 to Rs 300.1 crore from Rs 256.8 crore was almost stagnant in terms of growth in FY 2018. It grew by about 1.3 per cent to about Rs 303.8 crore in fiscal 2018. Siti’s activation revenue has also been almost constant and will taper off once its entire subscriber base has been digitised, since this is generally a one-time revenue. Activation revenue in FY-2016 was Rs 170.6 crore, it was Rs 170.1 crore in FY 2017 and was Rs 175 crore in FY 2018. Advertisement revenue had declined in FY 2017 to Rs 13.5 crore from Rs 32 crore in FY 2016 has increased in FY 2018 to Rs 18.5 crore.

    Siti has yet to report profit after tax and reward its shareholders with dividends. But, the good thing is that Siti’s operating profits (EBITDA) without activation revenue have grown 2.6 times in FY 2018 to Rs 150.7 crore from Rs 58.6 crore. Overall EBITDA including activation has grown 41.9 per cent in FY 2018 to Rs 324.5 crore from Rs 241.2 crore in the previous year.

    All numbers in this report are consolidated unless stated otherwise.

    Siti’s position with regards to broadband is more of a norm rather than an exception. Many other MSOs’ and LCOs’ that have also been providing broadband internet services have had muted numbers from this business stream in FY 2018 as compared to the previous year. This implies either a slow growth or even de-growth of subscriber numbers, reduced ARPUs’ or even both.

    Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (Jio) has been the biggest disrupter that has got both wireless and wireline internet service providers struggling to match up. With its plans to start FTTH wired internet services, with strategies that many in the industry term as ‘predatory’, it is likely to make the ground difficult to sustain and grow for incumbents.

  • Reliance Jio acquires RCom’s wireless infra assets

    Reliance Jio acquires RCom’s wireless infra assets

    Mumbai: Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJio), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), today signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition of the wireless infrastructure assets of Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom).

    An asset monetisation process for RCom assets was mandated by the lenders of RCom, who appointed SBI Capital Markets Ltd to run the process. The process was supervised by an independent group of industry experts. RJio emerged as the successful bidder in the two-stage bidding process.

    Consequent to the agreement, RJio will acquire assets under four categories–towers, optic fibre cable network, spectrum and media convergence nodes from RCom and its affiliates. These assets are strategic in nature and are expected to contribute significantly to the large scale roll-out of wireless and fibre to home and enterprise services by RJio.

    The acquisition is subject to receipt of requisite approvals from governmental and regulatory authorities, consent from all lenders, release of all encumbrances on the said assets and other conditions precedent. 

    Consolidation has been the buzzword in the telecommunications industry. From as many as 13 players at one point in time, we are now left with just four major contenders.  Earlier this year, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular decided to merge operations to create India’s largest telecom operator worth more than $23 billion beating Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Airtel. 

    RJio is being advised by Goldman Sachs, Citigroup Global Markets, JM Financial Private Limited, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co and Ernst & Young on this transaction.

    Also Read:

    The year the telecom sector quaked

    Jio continues leading broadband subs addition while wireline internet loses subs in Oct

  • Jio to raise Rs 200 bn for next phase of expansion

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) is planning to raise Rs 200 billion through a rights issue of OCPS (optionally convertible preference shares). Jio will raise the amount through the rights issue of shares to shareholders as Reliance Industries’ wholly-owned subsidiary is reading for the next phase of expansion.

    RIL is now expected to reveal Jio’s next significant move – an inexpensive 4G feature phone supporting Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology.

    The OCPS fund-raising would take the total raised by Jio through this route to around Rs 900 billion in the last two years. In the March quarter, Jio’s capital expenditure was Rs 180 billion, and this would stay the same in the subsequent three-month period, the company stated. Jio pocketed around 117 million users, or around nine per cent active subscriber market share as of May end, according to TRAI data.

    RIL has already invested around Rs 2000 billion in Jio, which started commercial operations in September 2016.

    To take on competition, incumbent operators have also ramped up investments. As in March 2017, Bharti Airtel, Idea and Vodafone India respectively invested Rs 2300 billion, Rs 1250 billion and Rs 1350 billion.

  • CCI reviewing Jio-RCom pact for sharing 800 MHz spectrum

    MUMBAI: Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm has sought approval from the Competion Commission (CCI) for the proposed spectrum sharing deal with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications. The CCI website states that the deal is under review.

    Jio is waiting for an approval from the CCI for pacts entered into with Reliance Communications (RCom) and its subsidiary Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) for using 800 MHz spectrum, PTI reported. Jio, as is known, is the latest entrant in the highly competitive Indian telecom market.

    Jio had entered into an agreement with RCom for acquisition of right to use some spectrum in the 800 MHz band. Besides, it had, in January 2016, signed agreements with RTL and RCom providing with the option related to use of the spectrum.

    The pacts were “pursuant to the guidelines for trading of access spectrum by access service providers” issued by the Department of Telecommunications on October 12, 2015, as per the notice submitted to the CCI. According to the notice, Jio was testing its network for providing high definition voice, mobile telephone services, video, data and messaging as on the date of entering into the agreements.

  • IPL: Oppo, Vivo, Jio & Amazon ads ruled

    BENGALURU: Mobile handsets and mobile services, including data services ruled the air on the channels that broadcast the tenth season of the cricket T20 Indian Premier League (IPL 10 or IPL 2017) according to Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) for the weeks during which live IPL 10 matches were aired. The number of insertions by the top 10 advertisers and brands during IPL10 were 22.9 percent and 10.4 percent more respectively than the spots booked by the top10 advertisers and brands during IPL 9.

    The excitement built up for the event saw IPL 10 recording the highest viewership for the season in week 15 till date for all the Sony Pictures Network (SPN) channels that broadcast the event  – the two Hindi Movie channels – Sony Max and two Sports channel’s Sony Six.(English) and Sony ESPN (commentary in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Hindi).These channels have been collectively termed as IPL10 channels in this paper.

    IPL 10 commenced on Wednesday, 5 April 2017. The mega T20 cricket bonanza played by 8 teams comprising of over 200 players including 72 international players concluded with the finals on Sunday, 21 May 2017, after 60 matches  (59 played, one washed out) spread over 47 days.

    BARC week 14 commenced on Saturday, 1 April 2017 and ended on Friday, 7 April 2017. Three days of play with three matches played happened in week 14. The event concluded in the beginning of week 21 – only one match –the final, was played during that week. Ten matches were played during each of BARC weeks15, 16 and 18. Nine matches were played in weeks 17 and 19 and seven planned for week 20, with just one in week 21 as mentioned above.

    A total of 21,964 insertions were made by the top 10 advertisers during IPL 10 on the channels that aired the event. Last year the top advertisers had 17,870 spots on these channels.55.6 percent (12,223 insertions) of these spots were booked by two Mobile phone suppliers and two mobile services each – Oppo India (Oppo) was the largest advertiser on the SPN channels during IPL10 with 4,285 insertions followed by Vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd with3,767 insertions. Mobile and data services provider Reliance Jio Infocomm was the third biggest advertiser during IPL 10 on IPL channels with 2,504 insertions. Vodafone Essar Limited was ranked the seventh biggest advertiser with 1,667 insertions. Please refer to the table below for the 10 largest advertisers on IPL broadcasting channels during IPL 10 weeks.

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    Oppo split the insertions mainly with two variants of it mobile phone model – Oppo F3 plus, which was the most advertised brand during IPL 10 on the channels that aired IPL 10 with 2,909 insertions and ads that combined both Oppo F3 and F3 plus with 1,376 insertions. The second most advertised brand during IPL 10 on IPL channels was Jio Digital Life with 2,317 insertions.  Like Oppo, Vivo split its spots with both variants of it mobile phone – the Vivo V5 and the Vivo V5 plus.Another mobile brand from Micromax – the Micromax Canvas 6 series was the eighth most advertised brand during IPL 10 on IPL channels with 916 insertions. Please refer to the table below for the most advertised brands during IPL 10 and IPL 9.

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  • Jio brings Rs 309 all-unlimited plan, new Prime sops

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio Infocomm announced that the Jio Summer Surprise has been fully withdrawn, following the advice of Telecom Regulatory authority of India (“TRAI”).

    Jio further announced new all-unlimited plans with special benefits, exclusively for its Jio Prime members and aimed at encouraging Jio subscribers to live the Digital Life without restrictions – Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan!

    The plans start with the most affordable Rs. 309 which provides Unlimited SMS, calling and data (1GB per day at 4G speed) for three months on first recharge.

    The company also announced the Rs. 509 unlimited plan for daily high data users offering Unlimited SMS, calling and data (2GB per day at 4G speed) for three months on first recharge.

    Considering the special benefits that are available to Jio Prime members, customers who were unable to subscribe to Jio Prime for any reason, can continue to do so by paying Rs. 408 or Rs. 608 (Jio Prime + recharge price) to avail these benefits.

    These plans will be available starting on 12 April, 2017. Existing Jio customers who have not done their first recharge so far, need to do so by 15 April 2017 to avoid degradation and/or discontinuation of services.

    Jio is currently implementing the world’s largest migration from free to paid services in such a short period of time. In order to smoothen the migration from free to paid services, Jio has implemented simple, affordable and regulatory compliant plans in customer interest. Jio looks forward to customers making full use of this opportunity to avail the most attractive tariff plans in the industry, which are unparalleled globally.

    With this, Jio extends the benefits of a superior and advanced technology to take India to global digital leadership. Jio’s unmatched data strong network is capable of meeting the burgeoning data requirements of hundreds of millions of Indians. The announcement also marks another step in Jio’s commitment to continuously delight its customers and enable them to live a fully digital life. Jio is thankful to the millions of customers who have taken up Jio services.

  • Review ‘fastest network’ ad order, Airtel appeals to ASCI

    MUMBAI: Airtel has filed an application before the watchdog The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) for the review of decision with additional material to support its advertisement campaign. ASCI had concluded the ad claiming Airtel to be “officially” fastest network as misleading and asked the company to withdraw or modify the commercial by 11 April.

    Telecom major Bharti Airtel filed the appeal seeking review of ASCI’s decision that sought modification or withdrawal of the company’s ‘fastest network’ campaign. Airtel had come out with a television commercial (TVC) claiming to be India’s fastest network based on Ookla’s finding. Its new competitor Jio had contested the claim and moved the ASCI against the commercial.

    ASCI’s Fast Track Complaints Committee (FTCC) upheld Jio’s complaint on 29 March that Bharti Airtel’s commercial depicting it as having the fastest telecom network in the country is misleading. The committee of ASCI ruled that the “TVC and website advertisement contravened” ASCI rules. Bharti Airtel had said it will file an appeal against the order.

    Upholding the complaint filed by rival Reliance Jio Infocom, ASCI said the Airtel TV commercial (TVC) was “misleading” and “contravened Chapters” of its Code as well as guidelines on disclaimers clauses.

    Ookla had also responded to ASCI decision saying that it fully stands behind the reliability and accuracy of the methodology used to designate Airtel as ‘India’s Fastest Mobile Network’.

    Also Read:

    Airtel hits back at Reliance Jio, Ookla stands by its findings

    Airtel does not agree with ASCI’s ‘conclusion’ on misleading ad

  • Jio extends Prime deadline, freebies period

    MUMBAI: Reliance Jio Infocomm has announced that, in a month, over 72 million Jio customers have signed up for Jio Prime.

    This is the largest migration from free to paid services in history in such a short period of time.Considering the demand for enrolling to Jio Prime and doing the first recharge, Jio has extended the deadline for purchasing Jio’s Rs 303 (and other) plans till 15th April. This extension will provide the necessary breathing room for users to avoid service disruption during the transition from free to paid services.

    Customers who could not enrol for Jio Prime by 31 March for whatever reason can still do so by paying Rs 99 along with their first purchase of Jio’s Rs 303 and other plans till 15 April.

    Jio also announced the Jio Summer Surprise for its Jio Prime members. Every Jio Prime member, when they make their first paid recharge prior to 15 April using Jio’s Rs 303 plan (or any higher value plan), will get services for the initial three months on a complimentary basis. The paid tariff plan will be applied only in July, after the expiry of the complimentary service.The Jio Summer Surprise is the first of many surprises for Jio Prime members.

    Mobile Number Portability (MNP), which allows customers to retain their existing mobile number when they switch to Jio, is available across the country for all customers. For international travellers, Jio’s International roaming service is available.

    Reliance CMD Mukesh D. Ambani told Jio customers, “I want to personally thank you for choosing Jio, and for being a founding member of the
    Jio movement. A movement to transform India. A movement to empower and enrich each one of you with the revolutionary power and possibilities of Digital Life.”

    “I am conscious that this is the largest migration from free to paid services in history. We are committed to doing this gradually, so that both Jio and Jio customers have the time to adjust, fine tune and perfect this transition. I want to assure you that Jio will walk alongside you all through this transition to paid services,” he said.

    “Jio,” he said, “has created the world’s largest greenfield 4G LTE wireless broadband network, with over 100,000 mobile towers. And we will add another 100,000 towers to our network in the coming months. This greenfield investment – of over Rs 200,000 crore – is the largest in the world.” He added, “I commit that Jio will always strive to provide you the highest quality – and the world’s most affordable – data and voice services.”