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MUMBAI: Wire And Wireless India Limited (WWIL), Zee Group's
demerged cable company, has posted a consolidated net loss
of Rs 159 million for the third quarter ended 31 December
2006.
The consolidated revenues stood at Rs 513 million for the
quarter and Rs 1.5 billion for the nine-month period. Operating
losses were at Rs 33 million after expensing Rs 38 million
for office infrastructure. Being the first year of operations
for WWIL, the previous period figures are not available.
Commenting on the results Zee chairman Subhash Chandra said,
"WWIL has just begun its rollout of digital cable services
in the three metros of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata and it is
encouraging to learn that we have been able to capture almost
half of the market in these areas. Our analogue cable business
continues to lead industry in connecting millions of television
homes. The business initiatives of WWIL towards digitization
of cable homes and upgrading of cable infrastructure would
become visible in the performance from FY2008 onwards."
Added WWIL MD Jagjit Singh Kohli, "There is more than
expected demand for set top boxes in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.
We expect that the industry will need at least 6 million set
top boxes for complete roll out in these three metros. Demand
for digital signals is equally strong in other cities, not
notified under CAS. We see cable providing lot more value
added services through digital mode. WWIL is heading towards
its goal at an accelerated pace."
WWIL claims to have deployed 200,000 boxes. Said Kohli, "We
believe there is a vast opportunity in cable TV industry,
which is going through a rapid phase of consolidation and
digitization simultaneously. Our goal is to add 3.4 million
subscribers in next two years. Looking ahead, we are confident
that continued execution of our distribution strategy would
result in a revenue growth faster than that of industry."
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