MUMBAI: Ahmedabad-based Gujarat Telelinks Private Ltd (GTPL), a joint venture where Hathway Cable & Datacom has 50 per cent stake, has invested Rs 2 billion as it has spread its wings to cities within Gujarat and outside.
After Hathway acquired stake in late 2007, the bulk of the expansion has been in Gujarat. The multi-system operator (MSO) has also spread out to West Bengal, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
"We have invested Rs 2 billion. Our plan is to further invest around Rs 1 billion in the next fiscal if the digitisation pace gathers steam," says GTPL managing director Anirudhsinh Jadeja.
GTPL has acquired 51 per cent in Kolkata Cable and Broadband Pariseva to set foot in West Bengal. It has also started operations in cities such as Ranchi, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Sangli, Satara and Vidarbha. In Gujarat, it covers over 30 cities and is a dominant player in that market.
"We are expanding in cities where Hathway doesn‘t have operations. We have either acquired operators or started on our own in these cities," says Jadeja.
Pursuing its digitisation programme, GTPL plans to deploy 300,000 digital set-top boxes from Cisco over the next 12 months.
"We do not have an IPO (initial public offering) plan at this stage. We may look at it in future," says Jadeja.
Hathway is already listed, having raised Rs 4.8 billion last year via an IPO.
