Cable TV
Ortel reports respectable maiden numbers for FY-2015 & Q4-2015
BENGALURU: At the time of its IPO earlier in March 2015, Ortel Communications had to withdraw a part of the promoter’s quota to prevent undersubscription. In its maiden financial numbers, Ortel reported fairly respectable numbers for FY-2015 as well as Q4-2015 and hence justified the faith that investors put in it. The company was listed on 19 March, 2015.
For FY-2015, Ortel reported total income from operations (TIO) of Rs 154.79 crore for FY-2015, 20.5 per cent more than the Rs 128.50 crore in the preceding financial year. The company reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 5.65 crore in FY-2015 as compared to a loss of Rs 11.28 crore in FY-2014.
Notes: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore
The numbers mentioned in this report are standalone.
Cable subscription fees in FY-2015 grew four per cent to Rs 79 crore from Rs 75.7 crore in FY-2014, while internet subscription fees grew five per cent to Rs 27 crore from Rs 25.8 crore in FY-2014.
In Q4-2015, the company’s TIO at Rs 44.91 crore was a healthy 34.4 per cent more than the Rs 33.41 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year and 13.9 per cent more than the Rs 39.44 crore in Q3-2015. The company reported a PAT of Rs 5.65 crore in Q4-2015, as compared to a loss of Rs 1.23 crore in Q4-2014 and more than 20 times (20.64 times) the PAT for Q3-2014 which was reported as Rs 0.27 crore.
Revenue generating units (RGU)
Two main segments add to the company’s numbers – Cable TV and Broadband, with a big chunk of numbers also being added by unallocated segments.
Ortel reported total RGUs of 530,111 in FY-2015 as compared to 515,835 in FY-2014 and 486,255 in FY-2013. Of these, total cable RGUs in FY-2015 were 471,592, in FY-2014 they were 461,408, and in FY-2013 they were 435,628.
Correspondingly, Broadband RGUs were 58,519 in FY-2015, 54,427 in FY-2014 and 50,627 in FY-2013.
Cable TV segment
In FY-2015, Cable TV segment reported 11.5 per cent growth in revenue from Rs 97.35 crores in the previous year to Rs 108.52 crore in FY-2015. Cable TV segment reported 12.1 per cent growth in operating profit to Rs 49.32 crore in FY-2015 from Rs 43.98 crore in FY-2014.
Within this segment, besides subscription fees, cable connection fees grew 161 per cent to Rs 3.1 crore in FY-2015 from Rs 1.2 crore in FY-2014. Channel carriage fees grew 29 per cent in FY-2015 to Rs 26.4 crore from Rs 20.5 crore from FY-2014.
Cable TV reported 9.7 per cent y-o-y growth in revenue to Rs 27.87 crore from Rs 25.41 crore in Q4-2014 and 2.2 per cent growth from Rs 27.27 crore in Q3-2015. The segment reported more than triple the operating profits in Q4-2015 at Rs 11.21 crore as compared to the Rs 3.61 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year and 8.3 per cent more than the Rs 10.36 crore in Q3-2015.
Broadband segment
Broadband segment revenue grew 5.2 per cent during the corresponding period to Rs 28.89 crore in FY-2015 from Rs 27.47 crore in FY-2014. Operating profit from Broadband segment grew a healthy 43.3 per cent to Rs 20.89 crore from Rs 14.57 crore in FY-2014. Within this segment, internet connection fees grew 12 per cent in the current year to Rs 1.9 crore from Rs 1.7 crore in FY-2014.
Broadband segment reported revenue of Rs 7.44 crore in Q4-2015, which was 5.9 per cent more than the Rs 7.02 crore in Q4-2014 and 4.5 per cent more than the Rs 7.12 crore in Q3-2015. The segment reported almost eight times (7.61 times) operating result of Rs 7.95 crore in Q4-2015 as compared to the Rs 1.04 crore in Q4-2014 and 68.9 per cent more than the Rs4.71 crore in the immediate trailing quarter.
Unallocated
Revenue from unallocated segment grew almost four fold (3.73 times) to Rs 17.38 crore in the current year from Rs 3.67 crore in FY-2014. Operating profit credited to unallocated segment grew 3.7 per cent from Rs 3.07 crore in FY-2014 to Rs 3.19 crore in FY-2015.
In Q4-2015, revenue from unallocated revenue grew almost tenfold (9.79 times) to Rs 9.61 crore from Rs 0.98 crore in Q4-2014 and 90.1 per cent more than the Rs 5.06 crore in Q3-2015. Unallocated operating profit grew 4.2 per cent in Q5-2015 to Rs 0.81 crore from Rs 0.78 crore in Q4-2014 and grew 2.8 per cent from Rs 0.79 crore in Q3-2015.
Average revenue per user (ARPU)
The company has reported a slight reduction in average revenue per user (ARPU) in all cases when compared to the previous year, except for digital cable. Analog TV ARPU in FY-2014 was 145 per month as compared to Rs 147 in FY-2014 and Rs 136 in FY-2013.
Digital TV ARPU in FY-2015 was Rs 186 as compared to Rs 177 in FY-2014 and Rs 157 in FY-2013.
Retail broadband ARPU stood at Rs 356 in FY-2015 as compared to Rs 373 in both FY-2014 and FY-2013. Corporate broadband ARPU had the highest fall. In FY-2015, corporate broadband ARPU was Rs 2851 as compared to Rs 3487 in FY-2014 and Rs 3998 in FY-2013. Data usage per month has gone up relatively, hence indicating lowering of charges for data – in FY-2015, it was 3143 MB, in FY-2014 it was 3126 MB and in FY-2013 it was 2666 MB.
Ortel President and CEO Bibhu Prasad Rath said, “I am pleased to report that the company delivered healthy performance during the quarter and full year on the back of growth in Revenue Generating Units (RGUs) in Cable and Broadband businesses and robust contribution from Infrastructure Leasing segment. Our EBITDA margins stood strong at 37 per cent in FY-2015 as compared to 31 per cent in FY-2014. We anticipate further improvement in margins going forward as a result of deeper penetration in the Cable business along with our continued focus on the high-margin Broadband segment. Ortel Communications’ Direct-to-Consumer offering with full control over the ‘last mile’ network has enabled us to emerge as a dominant regional player in the cable TV and broadband business. With increasing penetration in our core and emerging markets along with the inorganic LCO (Local Cable Operator) buy out strategy, we believe we are well-positioned to achieve our immediate target of ~1 million RGUs by the end of FY-2017. I am also proud to share that we successfully concluded the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the company by raising Rs 108.6 crore during the quarter. The capital infusion will also enable us to accelerate growth and deliver much stronger financial and operational performance in the coming years.”
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Cable TV
Hathway Cable appoints Gurjeev Singh Kapoor as CEO
Leadership change comes as cable TV faces shrinking subscriber base and modest earnings pressure
MUMBAI: Hathway Cable and Datacom has tapped industry veteran Gurjeev Singh Kapoor as chief executive officer, marking a leadership pivot at a time when India’s cable television business is under mounting strain.
Kapoor will take over from Tavinderjit Singh Panesar, who is set to retire in August after a long innings with the company. Panesar, chief executive since 2023, has held multiple leadership roles at Hathway, including his latest stint beginning in 2022.
Kapoor brings more than three decades of experience in media and entertainment. He most recently led distribution at The Walt Disney Company’s Star India business, now part of JioStar. His career spans television distribution and affiliate partnerships, with stints at Sony Pictures Networks India, Discovery Communications and Zee Entertainment.
Panesar, with over three decades in the industry, has worked across strategic planning, distribution and business development in media, broadcasting and manufacturing. His past associations include ESPN Star Sports, Star India, Apollo Tyres and JK Industries.
The transition lands as the cable sector grapples with structural disruption. Traditional operators are losing ground to streaming platforms, while telecom and broadband players tighten the squeeze with bundled offerings.
An EY report estimates India’s pay-TV base could shrink by a further 30 to 40 million households by 2030, taking the total down to 71 to 81 million. The slide follows a loss of nearly 40 million homes between 2018 and 2024, a contraction that has already wiped out more than 37,000 jobs in the local cable operator ecosystem.
Hathway’s numbers reflect the strain. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 93 crore for FY25, down from Rs 99 crore a year earlier. Revenue inched up to Rs 2,040 crore from Rs 1,981 crore. As of December 2025, it had about 4.7 million cable TV subscribers and roughly 1.02 million broadband users.
Kapoor steps in with a familiar brief but a shrinking playbook. In a market where viewers are cutting cords faster than companies can reinvent them, the new chief executive inherits a business fighting to stay plugged in.
