Applications
Cisco eyes growth with cable digitisation
MUMBAI: With the Indian government approving the ordinance on pan India digitisation of cable network by 2014, Cisco is betting big on the cable market in the country and sees tremendous potential for its Service Provider (telco) business.
The key focus of Cisco‘s Service Provider division is to enable service providers (wireless, wire line, cable service providers) to monetise their investments in technology and drive new revenue streams without incurring additional capital expenditure. The proposed digitisation will help cable operators in India to transform into lifestyle-experience providers and help enable services like residential TV, HDTV, gaming, digital video recording, video on demand and future ‘connected home‘ services to retail consumers.
Cisco claims to have several products and solutions that benefit cable service providers like Cisco Cable Digital TV solutions, Cable Video, Cable Separable Security solutions and Cisco Videoscape, a solution that lets consumers combine content from multiple sources, social media, communications, and mobility to create an immersive TV experience. Cisco has also recently announced a Wireless TV Solution, which allows consumers to watch TV in virtually any room in the house, wirelessly.
Cisco India and SAARC Sr VP, Service Provider Sanjay Rohatgi said, “The onset of digitisation would help the cable service provide sector enhance quality of services and increase their subscription revenue by offering plethora of innovative and interactive services. Moving to a digital platform will also allow cable and Internet service providers to curb losses due to piracy. Cisco‘s cable digitisation solutions provide the massive scaling, capital and operational cost optimisation that cable operators need, to transition to a digital platform.”
Rohatgi further added, “Cisco‘s Service Provider business has been a key contributor to Cisco India‘s overall revenues. We have been working with leading service providers in India to enable them to transition to an IP NGN (Next-Generation Network) architecture and offer varied services to consumers across platforms. With the introduction of new technologies like 3G and 4G, the Indian telecom market offers tremendous potential to drive business growth.”
In India, Cisco is working with cable service providers to help them transition to a digital platform and enhance consumer experience, the company said.
Gujarat Telelinks Private Limited (GTPL) is one such customer that will deploy more than 300,000 next-generation digital set-top boxes from Cisco over the next 12 months in Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
Applications
With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
