News Broadcasting
Meridian Mobile flies in India
MUMBAI: Meridian Mobile, which is part of the UK based Meridian Group, has launched its flagship brand for GSM phones, “Fly” in India.
The marketing spend in the first year is likely to be $2 million as stated by the company. Malaika Arora has been signed-on as the brand ambassador for the product. She will be part of both, the print as well as the electronic campaign. The campaign aims to reflect the trendy and glamorous styling of the product.
There are many models like Fly SL 500M, Fly SL 300M and Fly MP 330, to name a few, that will be introduced in the tech savvy Indian market. Fly SL 500M has a 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with expandable memory, video ring tones with MPEG 4 and IRDA, Bluetooth and other features such as video recorder and player, MP3 player and 64 tone polyphonic and MP3 tones.
Whereas, Fly SL 300M has features like MP3 player, video player and recorder, 64 tone polyphonic and MP3 ring tones and expandable memory. Whereas,
Meridian Mobile adds that Fly MP 330 is the only phone in the market that can enhance equivalent volume of 40 watts. Besides having a video recorder and a player, 64 polyphonic and MP3 tones, it has features like 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with woofer and speaker console, which is a new feature and is yet to be launched even in the West.
Fly 2040 comes laden with features like 1.3 Mega-Pixel camera with Flash, Bluetooth enabled (voice, data and music), MP 3 player, continuous video recording and playback, 262K TFT display, video ringtones, 60 MB Internal Memory ( Nand Flash ), Micro SD Card Slot and IrDA connectivity.
Meridian Mobile CEO India operations Rajiv Khanna says, “It is important to have fully loaded phones as the replacement market gets stronger. This is likely to result in huge demand for feature rich and stylish phones. Meridian will offer the critical buyer with smart value choices.”
“Our marketing strategy is to focus on store branding and forging alliances with retailers. In the 1st phase our focus is on placement. We hope to reach 5000 premium counters by the end of the quarter, which will together account for 70 per cent of the over-all retail sales.”
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
