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Tag: wireline

  • Wireline broadband subs base falls, overall broadband subs base grows

    Wireline broadband subs base falls, overall broadband subs base grows

    BENGALURU: India’s wireline broadband internet subscriber fell further by 1.04 percent in the month ended 31 July 2017 (Jul-17) as compared to the previous month (Jun-17, month ended 30 June 2017). Earlier, the wireline broadband internet subscriber base had eroded by 0.11 percent in the month ended 31 May 2017 (May-17) as compared to the previous month (Apr-17). On both occasions, among the major contributors to the shrinkage of the overall subscriber base was the loss of subscribers by the two government telephone companies – Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and its smaller and metro-centric peer Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL). At the same time, ACT Broadband, probably the largest private wired internet service player in South India, continued to lead subscriber acquisitions in calendar year 2017 (CY-17, since 31 December 2016 or Dec-16) to July-17  with the addition of about  110,000 (0.11 million) broadband internet subscribers.

    It must be noted that TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.51 million (5.1 lakh) subscribers for You BB for Dec-2015 would be granular to the nearest 10,000. While percentages have been mentioned up to two decimal places, the accuracy may vary, depending upon the exact number of subscribers.

    Overall Broadband Internet Subscribers

    The good news is that the overall broadband internet subscriber base in the country which includes wired, wireless by mobile device users and fixed wireless subscribers (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to-Point Radio & VSAT) increased 3.17 percent to 300.84 million in Jul-17 from 291.61 million in Jun-17. The growth was led by a growth in wireless internet subscribers that access the internet on their mobile devices, with Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd once again leading in the growth.

    The top five service providers constituted 89.79 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Jul-17. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (128.58 million), Bharti Airtel (58.91 million), Vodafone (42.50 million), Idea Cellular (27.70 million) and BSNL (21.45 million).

    Wired Broadband Internet Subscribers

    As per data published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) broadband wireline subscriber base in India declined in Jul-17 to 18.14 million from 18.33 million in Jun-17. Among the top five wireline broadband internet services providers in the country, BSNL and MTNL lost 70,000 and 10,000 subscribers respectively in the month of Jul-17. Airtel, the second largest wireline broadband internet player did not gain or lose any subscriber, while the minnows- Atria Convergence Technologies – ACT Broadband and You Broadband each added 10,000 subscribers. This implies that the other wireline broadband internet service providers in the country besides those mentioned above lost about 0.11 million subscribers in the month of Jul-17. Amongst the other wireline broadband internet service providers are Multi-system operators (MSOs’) and Local cable operators (LCOs’) that provide internet services through their video cables using technology that includes various versions of DOCSIS technology.

    As per TRAI data, as on 31 July 2017, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL (9.66 million), Bharti Airtel (2.10 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (1.23 million), MTNL (0.97 million) and You Broadband (0.66 million).

    Please refer to the figure below for the total wireline subscriber base and subscriber base of the top 5 wired broadband internet service providers in India in calendar year 2017.

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    Wireless Broadband Internet Subscribers

    As mentioned above, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio juggernaut still continued to lead growth in wireless broadband internet subscriber growth in the country ten months after its commercial launch on 5 September 2016. Jio has added 56.42 million subscribers in calendar year 2017 (CY-17) until Jul-17.

    Wireless broadband numbers grew 10.23 million or 3.36 percent month-on-month (m-o-m) to 292.22 million in Jul-17 from 281.99 million in Jun-17 according to TRAI) data for the month of July 2017. As on 31 July, 2017, the top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (128.58 million), Bharti Airtel (56.80 million), Vodafone (42.49 million), Idea Cellular (27.70 million) and Reliance Communications (12.75 million).

    Please refer to the figure below for the top 5 Wireless Broadband Internet Service Providers in India.

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    As mentioned above, MSOs’ and (LCOs’) or cable video service providers also provide broadband internet services in the country. These cable service providers have a number of subsidiaries and alliances, hence broadband numbers are split as applicable. The consolidated subscription numbers of these entities could be larger than the numbers of some of the wired internet services providers mentioned above.

  • ACT continues to lead in wireline broadband internet additions in 2015: TRAI October 2015

    ACT continues to lead in wireline broadband internet additions in 2015: TRAI October 2015

    BENGALURU: South Indian broadband internet service provider Atria Convergence Technologies Private Limited (ACT) continued to lead in addition of new subscribers in wireline broadband internet services during the period between 31 December, 2014 and 31 October, 2015. ACT added 2.10 lakh net subscribers or 22.11 per cent of the all India additions during the period as per the Telecom Regulatory of India (TRAI) report for the month ended 31 October, 2015. As per the TRAI reports, as on 31 December, 2014, ACT had 6.1 lakh subscribers (3.98 per cent of all India subscribers) and it had 8.2 lakh subscribers (5.04 per cent of all India subscribers) as on 31 October, 2015. Hence, its growth has also been the highest in percentage terms at 34.43 per cent during the period.

    The top five players in India in the wireline broadband internet space in pecking order are the public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel), public sector Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Atria Convergence Technologies Private Limited (ACT) and You Broadband (You BB). Among these five, only BSNL and Airtel could be termed national players at present. BSNL, Airtel and MTNL also provide wireline and mobile services while Airtel also has a direct to home (DTH) segment.

    Note: (1) 100,00,000 = 100 Lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

    (2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to two decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.47 million (4.7 lakh) subscribers for You BB for July-2015 would be granular to the nearest 10,000. While percentages perforce have been mentioned up to two decimal places, the accuracy may vary, depending upon the exact number.

    (3) Industry sources say that TRAI numbers in the case of ACT for May-2015 are incorrect at 0.66 million and the correct number would be 0.693 million. This paper considers the number as 6.93 lakh or 0.693 million.

    (4) MSOs have a number of subsidiaries and alliances, hence broadband numbers are split as applicable. The consolidated subscription numbers of these entities could be larger. Hathway is a case in point.

    (5) Ortel’s numbers for Q3-2015 have been estimated from the numbers released by it for Q1-2015, Q2-2015, Q4-2015 and FY-2015.

    (6) The term ‘operating revenue’ in this paper indicates ‘total income from operations.’

    Please refer to Figure 1 below. Overall, during the 10 month period in CY-2015 until end October 2015, wireline broadband internet subscriber base in India grew by 6.2 per cent or by 9.5 lakh net new subscribers. During the period, wired broadband internet subscriber base increased from 153.2 lakh to 162.7 lakh. During the period, the combined share of wireline broadband internet subscribers of the top 5 players has dropped 246 basis points from 88.45 per cent as on 31 December, 2014 to 85.99 per cent as on 31 October, 2015. The drop in share between 30 September, 2015 and 31 October, 2015 was 31 basis points from 86.30 per cent to 85.99 per cent as on 31 October, 2015. Of the 9.5 lakh new all additions, 4.4 lakh (46.32 per cent of total additions) were added by the top five players. Compared to the all India growth of 6.2 per cent in subscribers, the top five players combined subscription numbers grew by 3.25 per cent.

    Telecom major Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) is not far behind ACT in subscriber additions during the 10 month period. Airtel has added two lakh net new subscribers or 21.05 per cent of the net new all India additions during the period. Its subscriber base grew two lakh (grew by 14.18 per cent) in the first 10 months of CY-2015. Airtel’s wireline broadband internet subscriber base grew from 14.1 lakh (9.20 per cent of the all India base) as on 31 December, 2014 to 16.1 lakh (9.90 per cent of the all India base) as on 31 October, 2015. While the share of subscribers of Airtel, ACT and You BB has been growing, the shares of the public sector BSNL and MTNL have fallen, either because of fall in number of subscribers or because of no growth in numbers. Please refer to Fig 2 below.

    MSOs’ contribution to broadband

    As mentioned above, the combined share of overall wired internet subscribers of the top five companies is declining, with other players increasing their contribution to wireline broadband subscription numbers.

    The decline between 31 December, 2014 and 31 October, 2015 was 246 basis points. Other ISPs’ share of subscribers has increased to the same extent. Among the ‘Others’ are included Cable TV MSOs. MSOs in India, which are looking at broadband revenues to prop up their cable revenue numbers because of the comparatively higher ARPUs from broadband internet services. We can only repeat the figures that we have mentioned in our earlier report Wired Broadband: ACT, Airtel lead growth in Sep 2015; MSOs’ broadband numbers increasing.

    MSOs have started reporting double digit increase in internet subscribers and revenue. Four MSOs – Hathway, Siti Cable, Ortel and Den added 1.09 lakh (25.34 per cent of total additions in Q2-2016 or the quarter ended 30 September, 2015) subscribers during that period as per their financial reports filed at the bourses. QoQ, the combined broadband subscribers in Q2-2016 added by the four MSOs increased by 58.36 per cent from 0.69 lakh added in Q1-2016. The third quarter of the current fiscal (Q3-2016) ended on 31 December, 2015 and companies will start filing their numbers over the next few weeks.

    Some MSOs’ broadband numbers from our previous report

    Broadband contributes in double digit percentages to the total incomes or operating revenue of two of the four companies – Hathway (about 25 per cent and growing) and Ortel (declined from 21.07 per cent in Q1-2015 to 16.80 per cent in Q2-2016). In the case of Siti Cable and Den, revenue from broadband services contributed to less than five per cent to their operating incomes. However, sources at Siti Cable say that the company will now be focusing at broadband internet services in a big way.

    Hathway reported broadband revenue of Rs 71.9 crore (26.24 per cent of operating revenue) in the current quarter, 58.4 per cent higher YoY than the Rs 45.4 crore (17.23 per cent of operating revenue), and 10.4 per cent more than the Rs 65.1 crore (24.62 per cent of operating revenue) in the immediate trailing quarter. Last quarter, the company said that it had added 50,000 broadband subscribers in Q1-2016, and claimed a broadband subscriber base of 4.6 lakh, of which 1.7 lakh were under Docsis 3.0. Hathway says that broadband ARPU increased 6.8 per cent QoQ to Rs 616 from Rs 577 and that its Docsis 3 consumer ARPU has reached Rs 750.

    Ortel’s broadband customers grew 8.9 per cent to 63,663 in Q2-2015 from 57,528 in Q2-2015 and grew 4.5 per cent from 60,900 in Q1-2016. Ortel’s broadband ARPU in Q2-2016 was Rs 395, in Q2-2015, it was Rs 398 and in Q1-2016, it was Rs 393. Ortel reported 11.7 per cent growth in YoY total broadband services revenue to Rs 8.1 crore (16.80 per cent of operating revenue) in the current quarter as compared to Rs 7.3 crore (19.89 per cent of operating revenue) and a 7.9 per cent QoQ growth from Rs 7.5 crore (17.40 per cent of operating revenue).

    Siti Cable says that it has added 16,950 broadband subscribers in Q2-2016, taking its broadband subscriber base to 91,450 from 74,500 in the previous quarter. Broadband revenue increased 50 per cent YoY in Q2-2106 to Rs 9.30 crore (3.30 per cent of operating revenue) from Rs 6.20 crore (3.95 per cent of operating revenue) and increased 3.3 per cent QoQ from Rs 9 crore (2.83 per cent of operating revenue).

    Den says that it has added 21,000 subscribers in Q2-2016 as compared to 12,000 in Q1-2016. Its total broadband subscriber base in Q2-2016 was 57,000 as compared to 35,000 in Q1-2016 and 16,000 in Q2-2015. Den’s broadband revenue increased 58 per cent in Q2-2015 to Rs 8.23 crore (3.03 per cent to operating revenue) as compared to the Rs 5.21 crore (1.96 per cent of operating revenue) in Q1-2016 and Rs 1.44 crore (0.49 per cent of operating revenue) in the corresponding year ago quarter.