Cable TV
Cable TV can be regulated only by competition: Baijal
MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman Pradip Baijal is keen to have competition in the cable TV sector. And he feels it is direct-to-home (DTH) and IPTV operators who can set the field for that.
“The cable TV sector is a very difficult area. The only way to regulate it is to bring in competition. Only DTH and IPTV when they come in, can make it happen,” he said on the sidelines of a telecom and broadband summit.
Unified licensing is a step forward but there is no agreement among all the stakeholders. Unlike telecom companies, companies, cable operators do not support unified licensing. “But it is a kind of converged licence that can lead to explosive growth. Unless DTH and IPTV come in aggressively, the entire game will not change. Cable TV will continue as it is,” Baijal said. He was delivering the valedictory adddress today at the Telecom and Broadband Summit 2005, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
India is the only country in the world where there are more cable TV than fixed line subscribers. Cable TV, in fact, has 1.5 times more connections. “There is a wide market out there which is yet to be explored. Competition can only drive this,” he said.
Broadband is growing at a snail’s pace in India. There are almost 47 million last mile copper lines of which 30-35 million are broadband capable. Though the government has set an aggressive target of three million broadband connections this year, we have just achieved .2 million with the incumbent and .3 million with the carriers. By the end of the year, we will have .7 million, way below the plan. “Broadband and rural telephony are not growing. Unless a critical mass comes in, broadband can’t grow,” he said.
Though prices have fallen, the broadband users haven’t grown. The reason for this, Baijal says, is lack of competition. It is important that fibre is priced properly. But the main incumbent – VSNL- is not prepared to share that fibre, thinking it is a goldmine. The incumbent has 70 per cent of the broadband market.
There is an explosive growth in the urban telecom sector but the challenge is to speed up teledensity in the rural areas. Rural broadband has succeeded with projects like e-Chaupal. “If that connection can be given to telephony and IPTV, there is huge growth potential for the telecom and broadband sector,” Baijal said.
Teledensity in the rural area was less than two per cent, which could go up to three per cent next year, while it was 32 per cent in the urban areas. Though teledensity is still low at 10-11 per cent in this, it is growing fast in urban areas. “In Mumbai it is 55 per cent while teledensity in Delhi is 45 per cent. The rural area, which is guided by the government sector, is the problem,” he said.
The answer is to install mobile towers and facilitate quick entry into mobile telephony in the rural areas. This would require an investment of Rs 90 billion from the government. Otherwise, the fund requirement would be Rs 300-400 billion to achieve four per cent teledensity in rural areas by 2010.
“The mobile tower has not reached the rural areas. That is why there is no growth. If this policy continues, this will bring disaster to the telecom sector,” Baijal said.
Rural India needs mobile telephony rather than pushing fixed lines through subsidies which can’t be sustainable. “Mobile coverage in India is just 20 per cent. There is an instrument available to increase teledensity both in the urban and rural areas,” Baijal said.
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.
