MUMBAI: Hathway Cable & Datacom will be on an overdrive to ramp up its digitisation, last mile ownership and broadband subscriber base this fiscal.
India’s leading multi-system operator (MSO) plans to invest Rs 2.15 billion during the year, a bulk of which will be towards acquiring local cable operators (LCOs).
Hathway plans to pump in Rs 1.2 billion towards acquisitions, hoping to take its primary direct points to half a million. The last mile access directly to the customer homes will allow it to offer value-added services and create a window for lifting the ARPUs (average revenue per user) in future.
“We plan to invest Rs 1.2 billion for acquisition of last mile in FY’11. We should have half a million primary direct points by then,” says Hathway Cable & Datacom managing director and chief executive officer K Jayaraman.
For boosting its cable Internet presence, Hathway will invest Rs 600 million during the fiscal. The plan is to have a subscriber base of half a million.
“The broadband division will be a separate SBU. Our focus will be to increase our net subscriber base. We expect the ARPUs to stay flat at Rs 330,” says Jayaraman.
Hathway will need to fund only Rs 350 million for seeding a million digital set-top boxes (STBs) this year. “We have got into a financing arrangement with the vendor (NDS). We will pay a limited percentage upfront while the remaining amount will be paid over 36 months. This will allow us to conserve capital,” says Jayaraman.
