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Tag: You Broadband

  • ACT leads in wired broadband subscriber additions in 2016

    ACT leads in wired broadband subscriber additions in 2016

    BENGALURU: Atria Convergence Technologies Private Limited (ACT, ACT Broadband) leads in net wired broadband subscriber additions in calendar year 2016 (CY-2016) with 80,000 subscribers added during the first quarter of CY-2016 . As per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), ACT’s broadband subscriber base as on 31 March 2016 (Mar-16) was 9.4 lakh as compared to the 8.6 lakh subscribers as on 31 December 2015 (Dec-15). ACT was closely followed by telecom major Airtel with 70,000 wired broadband subscriber additions until Mar-16 in CY-2016. Airtel’s wired broadband subscriber base in Mar-16 was 17.4 lakh.

    Until 30 October 2015 (Oct-15), ACT Broadband was leading in wireline broadband internet subscriber additions in India during calendar year 2015. Both ACT and Bharti Airtel had added 230,000 subscribers in CY-15 until Nov-15. In December 2015, numbers released by TRAI indicated that as on 31 December 2015 (Dec-15), Bharti Airtel had added 2.6 lakh subscribers (subject to a granularity of 10,000) as compared to the 2.5 lakh subscribers added by ACT in the period between 31 December 2014 (hence 1 January 2015, Dec-14) and Dec-15. In terms of wireline internet subscription numbers, Airtel had 16.7 lakh subscribers while ACT had 8.6 lakh subscribers at the end of CY-2015.

    As per TRAI data, 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, ACT Broadband) and You Broadband (You BB). Among these 5, 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. ACT started off as an MSO with operations concentrated in a few major cities and towns located mainly in South India. It started internet services (ACT Broadband) a little later and has grown its broadband internet subscriber base over time, to the extent that it is quite likely the biggest private wireline broadband player in South India. You BB offers broadband operations in a few cities in Maharashtra, Gujarat the NCR region Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

    While the public sector players BSNL and MTNL had been losing subscribers and/or market share until Feb-16, the three private players have been growing on both these parameters as Fig 1 below indicates. In CY-2016, until Mar-16, MTNL had lost 10,000 while BSNL gained 20,000 wired broadband subscribers with the addition of 30,000 in Mar-16 itself. You BB added 20,000 subscribers in CY-2016. BSNL’s wired broadband subscriber base as on 31 March 2016 was 99.4 lakh, while MTNL had 11.1 lakh subscribers. You BB had 5.3 lakh subscribers for Mar-15.

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

    (2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.47 million (4.7 lakh) subscribers for You BB for July-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.

    (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.

    In Mar-16, the largest ever number of wired broadband subscribers have been added – in absolute numbers as well as in month-over-month (m-o-m) percentage terms.  2.3 lakh wired broadband subscribers were added, with m-o-m growth of 1.37 percent in Mar-16. The combined subscription numbers of the top 5 wired broadband players also had the largest ever subscriber additions in terms of absolute numbers at 1 lakh and at 0.71 percent in terms of m-o-m growth. Please refer to Figure 1A below.

    At the same time, the subscriber numbers share of the top five wired broadband players in the country has reduced from 88.45 percent from Dec-14 to 83.98 percent as on Mar-16. During the same period the all India wireline internet subscriber base has grown 10.48 per cent from 153.2 lakh to 169.8 lakh. The combined numbers of the top five players have increased by less than half of that in percentage terms – by 5.24 per cent from 136.3 lakh to 142.6 lakh. The top five players have added 7.1 lakh subscribers during these 15 months, with ACT and Bharti Airtel contributing to the major bulk of the growth.          

    Other wireline broadband players in India

    MSOs’ in India have started providing internet services on the back of their television cable networks using DOCSIS technology. In general, they have started reporting double digit YoY increase in internet subscribers and revenue. The television cable players see broadband services improving their Average Revenue per User (ARPU) numbers. Three of the major MSOs and a regional MSO – Hathway, Siti Cable, Den Networks, Ortel Communications whose results are available in the public domain have been showing steady growth in their broadband segment over the past few quarters. All the four have been reporting growth in average revenue per user (ARPU).

    Ortel president and CEO Bibhu Prasad Rath said, “We are happy to launch a wide array of broadband plans in DOCSIS 2.0 and DOCSIS 3.0 technology platforms keeping in view the current pattern of internet usage by the subscribers. While we have very affordable plans to serve all internet subscribers, we have been continuously upgrading the speeds to cater to the fast changing usage trends of subscribers who have multiple requirements ranging from plain simple browsing, emailing, social media engagement, heavy downloading, video conferencing to the higher end usage of HD live streaming of video content and complex online gaming. Our endeavour is to constantly redefine our consumer experience and we will constantly pursue this objective in our markets to increase our broadband subscriber base.”

    Ortel reported a net addition of 13,963 internet subscribers in FY-2016(year ended 31 March 2016, current year) compared to 4,092 subscribers in FY-2015; Total Broadband RGUs were 72,482. The company expects significant growth in broadband subscribers in FY-2017 on the back of new network rollout, a strong team, solid back-end operations, attractive broadband packages and various other value-added services and initiatives.

    Earlier this month, Ortel introduced a wide range of plans including 100 Mbps mega speed DOCSIS 3.0 broadband internet in the state of Odisha. The new Ortel Broadband plans range from 2 Mbps to 100 Mbps which will cater to the requirements of most of the home broadband users ranging from simple browsing, chatting to using High Definition video content and high level Online Gaming.

    Siti Cable has reported broadband customer base growth to approximately 1.32 lakh by Q4-16 (quarter ended 31 March 2016, current quarter), up 120 percent year-on-year. Results from Hathway and Den Networks for FY-16 and Q4-16 have yet to be published in the public domain.

     

  • ACT leads in wired broadband subscriber additions in 2016

    ACT leads in wired broadband subscriber additions in 2016

    BENGALURU: Atria Convergence Technologies Private Limited (ACT, ACT Broadband) lead in net wired broadband subscriber additions in calendar year 2016 with 50,000 subscribers added during the first two months of calendar year 2016 (CY-2016). As per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), ACT’s broadband subscriber base as on 29 February 2016 (Feb-16) was 9.1 lakh as compared to the 8.6 lakh subscribers as on 31 December 2015 (Dec-15).

    Until 30 October 2015 (Oct-15), ACT Broadband was leading in wireline broadband internet subscriber additions in India during calendar year 2015. Both ACT and Bharti Airtel had added 230,000 subscribers in CY-2015 until Nov-15. In December 2015 numbers released by TRAI indicated that as on 31 December 2015 (Dec-15), Bharti Airtel had added 2.6 lakh subscribers (subject to a granularity of 10,000) as compared to the 2.5 lakh subscribers added by ACT in the period between 31 December 2014 (hence 1 January 2015, Dec-14) and Dec-15. In terms of wireline internet subscription numbers, Airtel had 16.7 lakh subscribers while ACT had 8.6 lakh subscribers at the end of CY-2015.

    As per TRAI data, 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, ACT Broadband) and You Broadband (You BB). Among these 5, 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. ACT started off as an MSO with operations concentrated in a few major cities and towns located mainly in South India. It started internet services (ACT Broadband) a little later and has grown its broadband internet subscriber base over time, to the extent that it is quite likely the biggest private wireline broadband player in South India. You BB offers broadband operations in a few cities in Maharashtra, Gujarat the NCR region Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

    While the public sector players BSNL and MTNL have been losing subscribers and/or market share, the three private players have been growing on both these parameters as Fig 1 below indicates. In CY-2016, until Feb-16, both BSNL and MTNL have lost 10,000 wired broadband subscribers each, while You BB has added 10,000 subscribers. BSNL’s wired broadband subscriber base as on 29 February 2016 was 99.1 lakh, while MTNL had 11.1 lakh subscribers. You BB had 5.2 lakh subscribers for Feb-15.

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

    (2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.47 million (4.7 lakh) subscribers for You BB for July-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.

    (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.

    At the same time, the subscriber numbers share of the top five wired broadband players in the country has reduced from 88.45 percent from Dec-14 to 84.54 percent as on Feb-16. During the same period the all India wireline internet subscriber base has grown 9.33 per cent from 153.2 lakh to 167.5 lakh. The combined numbers of the top five players have increased by less than half of that in percentage terms – by 4.5 per cent from 136.3 lakh to 141.6 lakh. The top five players have added 5.3 lakh subscribers during these 14 months, with ACT and Bharti Airtel contributing to the major bulk of the growth. Please refer to Fig 2 below.

    MSOs’ in India have started providing internet services on the back of their cable networks using Docsis technology. In general, they have started reporting double digit YoY increase in internet subscribers and revenue.  Three of the major MSOs and a regional MSO – Hathway, Siti Cable, Den Networks, Ortel Communications whose results are available in the public domain for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-2016 current quarter) have been showing steady growth in their broadband segment over the past few quarters. 

  • ACT leads in wired broadband subscriber additions in 2016

    ACT leads in wired broadband subscriber additions in 2016

    BENGALURU: Atria Convergence Technologies Private Limited (ACT, ACT Broadband) lead in net wired broadband subscriber additions in calendar year 2016 with 50,000 subscribers added during the first two months of calendar year 2016 (CY-2016). As per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), ACT’s broadband subscriber base as on 29 February 2016 (Feb-16) was 9.1 lakh as compared to the 8.6 lakh subscribers as on 31 December 2015 (Dec-15).

    Until 30 October 2015 (Oct-15), ACT Broadband was leading in wireline broadband internet subscriber additions in India during calendar year 2015. Both ACT and Bharti Airtel had added 230,000 subscribers in CY-2015 until Nov-15. In December 2015 numbers released by TRAI indicated that as on 31 December 2015 (Dec-15), Bharti Airtel had added 2.6 lakh subscribers (subject to a granularity of 10,000) as compared to the 2.5 lakh subscribers added by ACT in the period between 31 December 2014 (hence 1 January 2015, Dec-14) and Dec-15. In terms of wireline internet subscription numbers, Airtel had 16.7 lakh subscribers while ACT had 8.6 lakh subscribers at the end of CY-2015.

    As per TRAI data, 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, ACT Broadband) and You Broadband (You BB). Among these 5, 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. ACT started off as an MSO with operations concentrated in a few major cities and towns located mainly in South India. It started internet services (ACT Broadband) a little later and has grown its broadband internet subscriber base over time, to the extent that it is quite likely the biggest private wireline broadband player in South India. You BB offers broadband operations in a few cities in Maharashtra, Gujarat the NCR region Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

    While the public sector players BSNL and MTNL have been losing subscribers and/or market share, the three private players have been growing on both these parameters as Fig 1 below indicates. In CY-2016, until Feb-16, both BSNL and MTNL have lost 10,000 wired broadband subscribers each, while You BB has added 10,000 subscribers. BSNL’s wired broadband subscriber base as on 29 February 2016 was 99.1 lakh, while MTNL had 11.1 lakh subscribers. You BB had 5.2 lakh subscribers for Feb-15.

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

    (2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.47 million (4.7 lakh) subscribers for You BB for July-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.

    (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.

    At the same time, the subscriber numbers share of the top five wired broadband players in the country has reduced from 88.45 percent from Dec-14 to 84.54 percent as on Feb-16. During the same period the all India wireline internet subscriber base has grown 9.33 per cent from 153.2 lakh to 167.5 lakh. The combined numbers of the top five players have increased by less than half of that in percentage terms – by 4.5 per cent from 136.3 lakh to 141.6 lakh. The top five players have added 5.3 lakh subscribers during these 14 months, with ACT and Bharti Airtel contributing to the major bulk of the growth. Please refer to Fig 2 below.

    MSOs’ in India have started providing internet services on the back of their cable networks using Docsis technology. In general, they have started reporting double digit YoY increase in internet subscribers and revenue.  Three of the major MSOs and a regional MSO – Hathway, Siti Cable, Den Networks, Ortel Communications whose results are available in the public domain for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-2016 current quarter) have been showing steady growth in their broadband segment over the past few quarters. 

  • November 2015: ACT, Airtel lead subscriber additions for wireline broadband in India

    November 2015: ACT, Airtel lead subscriber additions for wireline broadband in India

    BENGALURU: Until 30 October, 2015 (Oct-15), ACT Broadband was leading in wireline broadband internet subscriber additions in India. November 2015 numbers released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) indicate that as on 30 November, 2015 (Nov-15), both ACT and Bharti Airtel have added 2.3 lakh subscribers (subject to a granularity of 10,000) each in the period between 31 December, 2014, hence 1 January, 2015 (Dec-14,) and Nov-15. In terms of wireline internet subscription numbers, Airtel had 16.4 lakh subscribers as on Nov-15, almost double the 8.4 lakh subscribers that ACT Broadband had.

    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, ACT Broadband) and You Broadband (You BB). Among these five, only BSNL and Airtel can 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. ACT started off as an MSO with operations concentrated in a few major cities and towns located mainly in South India. It started internet services (ACT Broadband) a little later and has grown its broadband internet subscriber base over time, to the extent that it is quite likely the biggest private wireline broadband player in South India. You BB offers broadband operations in a few cities in Maharashtra, Gujarat the NCR region Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. 

    Overall, November 2015 saw 140,000 wireline subscriber additions, of which 30,000 were added by Airtel and 20,000 by ACT; 10,000 by You Broadband, while the public sector behemoth BSNL saw a decline of 10,000 subscribers. MTNL did not have any new additions, taking the contribution of the top five wireline broadband players to 50,000 (or 35.57 per cent of overall additions) during Nov-15.

    Note: (1) 100,00,000 = 100 Lakh = 10 million = 1 crore
    (2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.47 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 report 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 report indicates ‘total income from operations.’

    Please refer to Fig 1 below. 

    Over an 11 month period, the subscriber numbers share of the top five wired broadband players in the country has reduced from 88.45 per cent from Dec-14 to 85.56 per cent as on Nov-15. During the same period All India wireline internet subscriber base has grown 7.11 per cent from 153.2 lakh to 164.1 lakh.

    The average all India subscriber growth rate per month for the period 1 January, 2015 to 30 November, 2015 was 0.62 per cent. During the period Dec-14 to May-15, the maximum growth was 0.46 per cent in Feb-15 with 70,000 net new broadband connections. Apr-15 saw nil growth rate and witnessed a decline in growth rate of 0.07 per cent in subscribers in the case of the top five wireline players in India. The average subscriber growth rate in the first five month period of the previous year was 0.31 per cent per month. The average subscriber growth during the next six month period including June-15 until Nov-15 was 0.89 per cent, with the highest in Aug-15 at 1.01 per cent. Please refer to Fig 1A below. Overall, the all India subscriber base has been growing at a faster pace than growth rate of the subscriber base of the top five wireline internet service providers in India.

    Fig 2 below indicates the subscriber details of the top five wired broadband internet service providers. While ACT has shown the highest growth during the period in this report, BSNL has had the steepest fall in subscription numbers during the first 11 month period of calendar year 2015. ACT’s share of All India wireline broadband internet subscribers has increased from 3.98 per cent at the start of the year to 5.12 per cent until Nov-15, while BSNL’s share has declined from 65.14 per cent in Dec-14 to 60.51 per cent in Nov-15. By its very stagnancy, MTNL’s share of All India wireline broadband internet subscribers has reduced from 7.38 per cent to 6.89 per cent during the same period. Airtel’s share has increased from 9.20 per cent to 9.99 per cent, while You BB’s share has increased from 2.74 per cent to 3.05 per cent during the same period.

    As is obvious from Fig 1A above, the share of new subscriber additions by the top five players has been reducing. MSOs in India have started providing internet services on the back of their cable networks using Docsis technology. In general, they have started reporting double digit YoY increase in internet subscribers and revenue. Three of the major MSOs and a regional MSO, whose results are available in the public domain for the quarter ended 31 December, 2016 (Q3-2016 current quarter) have been showing steady growth in their broadband segment over the past few quarters.

    In this report, let us look at how these television cable industry players have performed in the broadband space in Q3-2016. The four are: Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited (Hathway), Den Networks Ltd (Den), Siti Cable Network Limited (Siti Cable), and the regional player Ortel Communications Limited (Ortel).

    Hathway’s consolidated broadband subscribers increased by 50,000 or 9.31 per cent more QoQ, in Q3-2015 to 5.67 lakh. Hathway’s Broadband subscription revenue in Q3-2016 increased 53.4 per cent YoY to Rs 78.7 crore as compared to Rs 57.7 crore and increased 9.5 per cent QoQ as compared to Rs 57.7 crore. Hathway’s broadband standalone ARPUs increased 3.8 per cent QoQ from Rs 658 to Rs 683.

    Siti Cable Broadband revenue in the current quarter almost doubled (grew 99 per cent) at Rs 13.9 crore (3.8 per cent of OPREV) as compared to Rs 7 crore (3.2 per cent of OPREV) in Q3-2015 and increased 49.5 per cent QoQ as compared to Rs 9.3 crore (four per cent of OPREV). Broadband subscribers in the current quarter increased 17 per cent to 1,07,000 from 91,450 in Q2-2016.

    Den has also ramped up its broadband subscribers by 33.3 per cent to 76,000 in the current quarter from 57,000 in the immediate trailing quarter. The company’s broadband segment revenue increased by over five times YoY (5.5 times) at Rs 11.96 crore (3.4 per cent of TIO) as compared to Rs 2.17 crore (0.8 per cent of TIO) in corresponding prior year quarter and increased 58 per cent QoQ as compared to Rs 8.23 crore (three per cent of TIO). The segment’s YoY operating loss increased to Rs 19.57 crore as compared to Rs 12.37 crore, but reduced QoQ as compared to Rs 23.07 crore. The company says that broadband ARPU has declined by Rs 10 in the current quarter to Rs 760 from Rs 770 in the previous quarter.

    Den’s Broadband Post Activation EBIDTA in Q3-2016 was negative Rs 16 crore as compared to the negative Rs 11 crore in Q3-2015 and negative Rs 20 crore in Q2-2016.

    Ortel’s broadband segment reported 16.3 per cent higher revenue at Rs 8.28 crore as compared to Rs 7.12 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and 1.7 per cent more than the Rs 8.14 crore in Q2-2016. The broadband segment reported an operating profit of Rs 4.78 crore in the current quarter as compared to Rs 4.52 crore in Q3-2015 and 9.1 per cent higher than the Rs 438 crore in Q2-2016.

    Ortel’s broadband customers in the current quarter grew 16.2 per cent YoY to 67,709 as compared to 58,277 and grew 6.4 per cent QoQ as compared to 63,663. Broadband ARPU in Q3-2016 was higher at Rs 396, in Q3-2015 it was Rs 394 and in Rs Q2-2016 it was Rs 395.

  • November 2015: ACT, Airtel lead subscriber additions for wireline broadband in India

    November 2015: ACT, Airtel lead subscriber additions for wireline broadband in India

    BENGALURU: Until 30 October, 2015 (Oct-15), ACT Broadband was leading in wireline broadband internet subscriber additions in India. November 2015 numbers released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) indicate that as on 30 November, 2015 (Nov-15), both ACT and Bharti Airtel have added 2.3 lakh subscribers (subject to a granularity of 10,000) each in the period between 31 December, 2014, hence 1 January, 2015 (Dec-14,) and Nov-15. In terms of wireline internet subscription numbers, Airtel had 16.4 lakh subscribers as on Nov-15, almost double the 8.4 lakh subscribers that ACT Broadband had.

    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, ACT Broadband) and You Broadband (You BB). Among these five, only BSNL and Airtel can 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. ACT started off as an MSO with operations concentrated in a few major cities and towns located mainly in South India. It started internet services (ACT Broadband) a little later and has grown its broadband internet subscriber base over time, to the extent that it is quite likely the biggest private wireline broadband player in South India. You BB offers broadband operations in a few cities in Maharashtra, Gujarat the NCR region Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. 

    Overall, November 2015 saw 140,000 wireline subscriber additions, of which 30,000 were added by Airtel and 20,000 by ACT; 10,000 by You Broadband, while the public sector behemoth BSNL saw a decline of 10,000 subscribers. MTNL did not have any new additions, taking the contribution of the top five wireline broadband players to 50,000 (or 35.57 per cent of overall additions) during Nov-15.

    Note: (1) 100,00,000 = 100 Lakh = 10 million = 1 crore
    (2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.47 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 report 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 report indicates ‘total income from operations.’

    Please refer to Fig 1 below. 

    Over an 11 month period, the subscriber numbers share of the top five wired broadband players in the country has reduced from 88.45 per cent from Dec-14 to 85.56 per cent as on Nov-15. During the same period All India wireline internet subscriber base has grown 7.11 per cent from 153.2 lakh to 164.1 lakh.

    The average all India subscriber growth rate per month for the period 1 January, 2015 to 30 November, 2015 was 0.62 per cent. During the period Dec-14 to May-15, the maximum growth was 0.46 per cent in Feb-15 with 70,000 net new broadband connections. Apr-15 saw nil growth rate and witnessed a decline in growth rate of 0.07 per cent in subscribers in the case of the top five wireline players in India. The average subscriber growth rate in the first five month period of the previous year was 0.31 per cent per month. The average subscriber growth during the next six month period including June-15 until Nov-15 was 0.89 per cent, with the highest in Aug-15 at 1.01 per cent. Please refer to Fig 1A below. Overall, the all India subscriber base has been growing at a faster pace than growth rate of the subscriber base of the top five wireline internet service providers in India.

    Fig 2 below indicates the subscriber details of the top five wired broadband internet service providers. While ACT has shown the highest growth during the period in this report, BSNL has had the steepest fall in subscription numbers during the first 11 month period of calendar year 2015. ACT’s share of All India wireline broadband internet subscribers has increased from 3.98 per cent at the start of the year to 5.12 per cent until Nov-15, while BSNL’s share has declined from 65.14 per cent in Dec-14 to 60.51 per cent in Nov-15. By its very stagnancy, MTNL’s share of All India wireline broadband internet subscribers has reduced from 7.38 per cent to 6.89 per cent during the same period. Airtel’s share has increased from 9.20 per cent to 9.99 per cent, while You BB’s share has increased from 2.74 per cent to 3.05 per cent during the same period.

    As is obvious from Fig 1A above, the share of new subscriber additions by the top five players has been reducing. MSOs in India have started providing internet services on the back of their cable networks using Docsis technology. In general, they have started reporting double digit YoY increase in internet subscribers and revenue. Three of the major MSOs and a regional MSO, whose results are available in the public domain for the quarter ended 31 December, 2016 (Q3-2016 current quarter) have been showing steady growth in their broadband segment over the past few quarters.

    In this report, let us look at how these television cable industry players have performed in the broadband space in Q3-2016. The four are: Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited (Hathway), Den Networks Ltd (Den), Siti Cable Network Limited (Siti Cable), and the regional player Ortel Communications Limited (Ortel).

    Hathway’s consolidated broadband subscribers increased by 50,000 or 9.31 per cent more QoQ, in Q3-2015 to 5.67 lakh. Hathway’s Broadband subscription revenue in Q3-2016 increased 53.4 per cent YoY to Rs 78.7 crore as compared to Rs 57.7 crore and increased 9.5 per cent QoQ as compared to Rs 57.7 crore. Hathway’s broadband standalone ARPUs increased 3.8 per cent QoQ from Rs 658 to Rs 683.

    Siti Cable Broadband revenue in the current quarter almost doubled (grew 99 per cent) at Rs 13.9 crore (3.8 per cent of OPREV) as compared to Rs 7 crore (3.2 per cent of OPREV) in Q3-2015 and increased 49.5 per cent QoQ as compared to Rs 9.3 crore (four per cent of OPREV). Broadband subscribers in the current quarter increased 17 per cent to 1,07,000 from 91,450 in Q2-2016.

    Den has also ramped up its broadband subscribers by 33.3 per cent to 76,000 in the current quarter from 57,000 in the immediate trailing quarter. The company’s broadband segment revenue increased by over five times YoY (5.5 times) at Rs 11.96 crore (3.4 per cent of TIO) as compared to Rs 2.17 crore (0.8 per cent of TIO) in corresponding prior year quarter and increased 58 per cent QoQ as compared to Rs 8.23 crore (three per cent of TIO). The segment’s YoY operating loss increased to Rs 19.57 crore as compared to Rs 12.37 crore, but reduced QoQ as compared to Rs 23.07 crore. The company says that broadband ARPU has declined by Rs 10 in the current quarter to Rs 760 from Rs 770 in the previous quarter.

    Den’s Broadband Post Activation EBIDTA in Q3-2016 was negative Rs 16 crore as compared to the negative Rs 11 crore in Q3-2015 and negative Rs 20 crore in Q2-2016.

    Ortel’s broadband segment reported 16.3 per cent higher revenue at Rs 8.28 crore as compared to Rs 7.12 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and 1.7 per cent more than the Rs 8.14 crore in Q2-2016. The broadband segment reported an operating profit of Rs 4.78 crore in the current quarter as compared to Rs 4.52 crore in Q3-2015 and 9.1 per cent higher than the Rs 438 crore in Q2-2016.

    Ortel’s broadband customers in the current quarter grew 16.2 per cent YoY to 67,709 as compared to 58,277 and grew 6.4 per cent QoQ as compared to 63,663. Broadband ARPU in Q3-2016 was higher at Rs 396, in Q3-2015 it was Rs 394 and in Rs Q2-2016 it was Rs 395.

  • The Indian wired broadband story until now in 2015

    The Indian wired broadband story until now in 2015

    BENGALURU: The wired broadband internet market in India is dominated by the public sector company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), which as per numbers reported by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had an all India market share of 62.63 per cent as of  July 31, 2015. India’s wired broadband universe was 158.4 lakh, and BSNL had 99.2 lakh subscribers as on July 31, 2015. Please refer to Fig 1 below.

    Note: (1) 100,00,000 = 100 Lakh = 10 million = 1 crore
    (2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.47 million subscribers for You Broadband for July 31, 2015 would be granular to the nearest 10,000. While percentages perforce have been mentioned up to the 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 31, 2015 are incorrect at 0.66 million and the correct number would be 0.693 million. Also the subscription numbers mentioned for ACT for August 31, 2015 and September 31, 2015 are industry estimates.
    (4) This report examines performance by the top five broadband players in calendar year 2015, and also considers TRAI data for December 31, 2014 and November 30, 2014 to compare growth/declines.
    (5) In all the charts and figures in this report, the acronym for the period indicates the last date of the month. For example, Dec-14 means December 31, 2014 and Jul-15 means July 31, 2015. 

    The Indian wired broadband subscription universe has expanded by 3.39 per cent (5.2 lakh) in calendar year 2015 since from the December 31, 2014 number of 153.2 lakh to 158.4 lakh as on July 31, 2015. Among the top five wired internet service providers in India, the top three – BSNL, Bharati Airtel (Airtel) and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL) also provide voice (telephone) services and many of their wired internet customers use both services – voice and data. According to industry sources, Airtel has used separate Fibre to the home (FTTH) or Fibre to the curb (FTTC) in some places for data, but in general, broadband is carried on voice lines by the three big players. The other two companies in this report are ACT (Atria Convergence Technologies) and You Broadband India Private Limited.

    It is significant to note that wireline telephone voice subscribers have been declining at an average rate of about 0.49 per cent per month. The total number of wireline voice subscribers declined by 3.32 per cent (almost equal to the above mentioned 3.39 per cent increase in wired broadband internet subscribers) to 26104333 from 27000105 between December 31, 2015 and July 31, 2015, as per TRAI reports. Please refer to Fig 1A below

    graph2

    Among the top 5 players, the two public broadband service providers have shown a slight linear declining to flat trend in terms of number of subscribers, but since the overall universe is growing, their market share has been slowly declining. 

    Please refer to Fig 2A below for BSNL’s numbers. BSNL’s subscriber base declined by 0.6 per cent between December 31, 2014 and July 31, 2015. In fact, BSNL reported an almost flat subscriber base of 99.8 lakh between December 31, 2014, and February 28, 2015, with numbers declining as on March 31, 2015 to 99.6 lakh, declining to 99.2 lakh as on April 30, 2015, and further declining to 99 lakh as on May 31, 2015 before increasing to 99.1 lakh and 99.2 lakh as on  June 30, 2015 and July 31, 2015 respectively. At the same time, its market share declined 251 basis points from 65.14 per cent during the period under consideration in this report.

    graph3

    Please refer to Fig 2B. The private players have reported a growth in wired broadband internet subscriber numbers and market share. ACT has shown the largest growth. (Please refer to Fig 2C below for ACT numbers).
    Airtel and You Broadband have both shown an increase in number of wired broadband internet subscribers as well as in terms of market share, while the public sector MTNL has reported a decline across both the parameters.

    MTNL’s wired broadband internet subscribers grew from 11.3 lakh on December 31, 2014 to 11.4 lakh on January 31, 20155. The company’s numbers remained flat at 11.4 lakh until May 31, 2015 before declining to 11.3 lakh on June 31, 2015, a status which continued even in July 2015. Hence it has shown no growth in its broadband wired internet subscription base during the period under consideration in this report. However, its market share declined 25 basis points from 7.38 per cent to 7.13 per cent during that period.

    Airtel has a pan-India presence. It grew by 6.38 per cent by adding about 90,000 wired internet broadband users between December 31, 2014 and July 31, 2015, thereby increasing its market share from 9.20 per cent to 9.47 per cent. Airtel’s contribution to the all India increase of 5.2 lakh in wired broadband internet customers during the period under consideration was 17.31 per cent.

    You Broadband offers high speed internet, voice and video services through cable modem platform to residential, SME and corporate customers in 12 cities in the country. The company grew 11.9 per cent by adding 50,000 subscribers between December 31, 2014 and July 31, 2015 and grew its market share by 23 basis points from 2.74 per cent to 2.97 per cent during the period under consideration in this report.

    graph4

    Headquartered in Bangalore, the regional player ACT is spread across the towns and cities of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. ACT presently has 10 lakh plus subscribers that include cable as well as FTTH broadband. 

    Among the five top wired broadband internet service providers in India, ACT has shown the largest growth, both in absolute numbers and in market share. Please refer to Fig 2C below. Overall, the company’s subscription numbers increased 22.95 per cent as on July 31, 2015 to 7.5 lakh from 6.1 lakh on December 31, 2015. Industry sources say that ACT had a subscriber base of 7.9 as of September 30, 2015 and of 7.7 lakh as of August 31, 2015. Hence, the company added 1.2 lakh subscribers between December 31, 2014 and July 31, 2015, or added 26.92 per cent to the all India wired broadband internet subscriber base growth of 5.2 lakhs mentioned above during the period.

    ACT’s market share during the period from December 31, 2014 to July 31, 2015 increased by 75 basis points to 4.73 per cent from 3.98 per cent (Please keep the granularity of reportage of 10000 subscriber numbers in mind). The company’s wired internet broadband subscription base is now at about 50 per cent of the behemoth Airtel. 

    Though the breakup in regions has not been indicated by TRAI in its reports, it would not be surprising if ACT is the largest private player in South India, maybe ahead of even Airtel. Among the non-voice ISP’s ACT’s broadband subscriber base of 7.5 lakh as of July 31, 2015 certainly makes it the largest player in the country. 

    raph5

    Concluding remarks

    Quality of the product and services as well as after sales services speak for themselves. Pricing also plays the most critical role in a price sensitive market like India. The bigger players such as BSNL, MTNL and Airtel have been insensitive to these aspects while riding on the brand value of their other business operations such as wireless. They seem to have not noticed the simple fact that internet is rapidly becoming an integral part of everyday life and more so wired internet when the user is in the office or at home. For them, wired broadband is just one more product that adds a small fraction to their topline and bottomline. Wired broadband is the stepchild. It is here that the smaller players have stepped in and offered a superior product and prompt service and after sales service at a price that is often a fraction of what their bigger peers offer. 

    It is the smaller regional players such as ACT and You Broadband that have focused on the customers while not losing sight of their bottomline at the same time. In the case of the telecom companies, product quality and sensitivities to the customers’ requirements and after sales service are sorely lacking say some of their users. 

    Companies such as ACT and You Broadband have been so far plucking low hanging fruit. They started by offering internet services in the areas where they had cable television subscribers. ACT is now expanding in adjacent areas, and exploring newer territories. ACT has recently started operations in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. FTTH certainly offers a better experience to the consumer when compared to other modes such as copper that the traditional voice service providers have been using, or wireless or DOCSIS 2.0 or 3.0 that many an MSO has started depending upon to increase ARPUs.

    With cable MSOs, satellite, WiFi, and 4G wireless service providers vying for their customers, the internet ecosystem in India is rapidly changing, and for the better in India. Telecom service providers are facing some of the fiercest competition in decades in the wired broadband internet space. The industry expects that one of the biggest game changers in the internet ecosystem will be Reliance Jio. As MSOs slowly start focusing more and more on wired internet through DOCSIS, the race for numbers and profits is going to get even bigger. 

    Personalised high quality services that the next door cable operator can offer could play a big difference in who will get more traction. Industry sources claim that Airtel has started taking the competition from the regional wired internet players seriously by improving its after sales service and offering differentiated and competitive packages in the areas where the regional players operate, while product quality when compared to the smaller players is still work in progress. Reliance Jio is so far an unknown quality… only time will tell how the King (customer) will benefit and who it will chose to offer it what is now becoming a basic need for every human being. 

  • Broadband subscribers see 4% rise in July despite mobile growth

    Broadband subscribers see 4% rise in July despite mobile growth

    NEW DELHI: The number of broadband subscribers increased by 4.1 per cent between June and July to touch 113.32 million at the end of July. The total at the end of June stood at 108.85 million.

     

    Expectedly, the largest growth was seen among mobile devices users (phones and dongles), which rose from 92.7 million to 97.04 million signifying a rise of 4.68 per cent.

     

    According to information provided by service providers to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), wired subscribers grew from 15.7 million to 15.84 signifying a minuscule growth of 0.9 per cent. But there was a fall of 2.84 per cent among fixed wireless subscribers (WI Fi, Wi Max, Point to Point Radio, and VSAT) from 450,000 to 440,000.

     

    The top five service providers constituted 83.83 per cent market share of total broadband subscribers at the end of July. These service providers were Bharti Airtel (26.51 million), Vodafone (22.71 million), BSNL (18.43 million), Idea Cellular Ltd (17.43 million) and Reliance Communications Group (9.93 million).

     

    Some wireless service providers exclude incidental data users from their subscriber base, based on minimum usage decided by them.

     

    As on 31 July, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL (9.92 million), Bharti Airtel (1.50 million), MTNL (1.13 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (0.75 million) and YOU Broadband (0.47 million).

     

    The top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Bharti Airtel (25.01 million), Vodafone (22.70 million), Idea Cellular (17.42 million), Reliance Communications Group (9.81 million) and BSNL (8.51 million).

  • CloudWalker partners You Broadband for VoD services

    CloudWalker partners You Broadband for VoD services

    MUMBAI: Mumbai based technology start-up CloudWalker Streaming Technologies has partnered with internet service provider You Broadband to build a new video on demand (VoD) platform, which will provide a variety of digital content to the users of You Broadband. The VoD services will be accessible across web, mobile and tablets.

     

    Additionally, CloudWalker will also plug content in the VoD portal. Users will get access to 25,000 hours of content comprising movies, trailers, TV shows, and documentaries across different Indian and global languages.

     

    The new platform will allow You Broadband to extend its service offerings to its existing consumer base and help them reach to a newer set of audience. With this, You Broadband is also looking at a level playing field with players who provide VoD on their platforms.

     

    CloudWalker Streaming Technologies founder Jagdish Rajpurohit said, “We have noticed that despite the fact that big DTH players and large content creators have come up with VoD models, the MSOs and ISPs are unable to replicate this success. Although they realize the opportunity, they are facing challenges in terms of content and technology. Our aim is bridge this gap by providing them technological support and content in setting up the platform.”

  • Not much growth in broadband in July: TRAI

    Not much growth in broadband in July: TRAI

    NEW DELHI: Broadband subscribers grew by a mere 2.87 per cent in the month of July to 70.81 million in the country.

     

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said the number of subscribers at the end of June were 68.83 million.

     

    For the second month in a row, the largest growth was seen in mobile device users (Phones + Dongles) with a growth of 3.56 per cent. The change in wired subscribers was a mere 0.45 per cent and the growth in fixed wireless (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to-Point Radio & VSAT) was 1.54 per cent.

     

    The top five broadband service providers constitute 85.12 per cent market share of total broadband subscribers at the end of July. They are BSNL (18.14 million), Bharti (15.61 million), Vodafone (11.23 million), Idea Cellular (9.06 million) and Reliance Communications Group (6.23 million).

     

    The top five Wired Broadband Service providers are BSNL (9.98 million), Bharti (1.40 million), MTNL (1.13 million), Beam Telecom (0.40 million) and YOU Broadband (0.40 million).

     

    The top five Wireless Broadband Service providers are Bharti (14.21 million), Vodafone (11.23 million), Idea Cellular Ltd (9.06 million), BSNL (8.16 million) and Reliance Communications Group (6.12 million).

     

    Wireless subscribers with less than 1MB data usage in a month are not considered as internet/broadband subscribers by Reliance Communication Group and Idea Cellular.

  • Mobile usage shows increase in broadband subscribers between April-May

    Mobile usage shows increase in broadband subscribers between April-May

    NEW DELHI: There was an increase of 5.82 per cent in the number of broadband subscribers in May, as against a mere 1.45 per cent in the number of broadband subscribers between March and April this year.

     

    Data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) shows that the total number of subscribers between April and May went up from 61.74 million to 65.33 million in all segments: wired subscribers, mobile device users (Phones + Dongles), and fixed wireless (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to-Point Radio & VSAT).

     

    The largest change of 7.66 per cent was in the mobile segment, whereas wired subscribers showed an increase of 0.25 per cent and fixed wireless segment showed a change of 0.16 per cent.

     

    Top five broadband service providers constitute 84.35 per cent market share of total broadband subscribers at the end of May-14. They are BSNL (17.70 million), Bharti Airtel (13.84 million), Vodafone (8.23 million), Idea (8.19 million) and Reliance Communications Group (7.15 million).

     

    The top five Wired Broadband Service providers are BSNL (9.98 million), Bharti Airtel (1.40 million), MTNL (1.13 million), Beam Telecom (0.39 million) and YOU Broadband (0.39 million).

     

    The top five Wireless Broadband Service providers are Bharti Airtel (12.43 million), Vodafone (8.23 million), Idea (8.19 million), BSNL (7.72 million) and Reliance Communications Group (7.04 Million).