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BroadBand services showed increase by end of 2006
NEW DELHI: Even before the declaration of the current year as ‘the Year of the Broadband‘ by President A P J Abdul Kalam, the Broadband subscriber base reached crossed two million in the quarter ending December 2006 by registering a growth of The overall growth for the year December 2005 to December 2006 in the wire-line and wireless sector was 52.2 per cent. According to Quarterly Performance Indicators of Telecom Services for the quarter ending December 2006 released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the wireless Market grew at a high of 15.5 per cent by adding |
Internet Subscribers base reached 8.547 million in the quarter by registering a growth of 5.9 per cent. |
The gross subscriber base of the wire-line and wireless services together reached 189.92 million in the quarter ending December 2006 from 170.02 million as on September 30, showing an increase of 11.7 per cent during the quarter. (In the case of figures supplied by seven service providers in broadcasting and Cable, the maximum number of pay channels, free to air channels, and local channels remained the same at 241 between September and December, while it improved marginally at the minimum level from 74 to 86 channels.) |
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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.
