Hindi
Satellite rights, box office drives Eros’ Q1 net up 45%
MUMBAI: Strong box office collections helped Indian film production and distribution company Eros International Media to report a 45 per cent increase in net profit in the first quarter ended 30 June 2012.
Eros’ net profit in the first quarter was Rs 314.10 million, up from Rs 217 million a year ago.
The company said its total income rose 60 per cent to Rs 2.59 billion in the first quarter from Rs 1.62 billion a year earlier on strong theatrical revenue growth driven by robust theatrical pre-sales and box office performance of Housefull 2, Teri Meri Kahaani, Vicky Donor and Ferrari ki Sawaari.
Eros’s operating profit increased 42 per cent to Rs 523 million during the first quarter of 2012-13 from Rs 369 million a year earlier.
During the quarter, the company released five Hindi language films and 18 Tamil and other Indian language films. Strong demand for satellite rights for the films also drove revenue growth. As part of the pre-sales strategy, Eros has signed a licensing agreement with Viacom18 Media. Accordingly, Viacom18’s Colors television channel will exclusively telecast Cocktail, Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi, Khiladi and catalogue films.
Eros International Media MD Sunil Lulla said, “We are once again proud to have picked a fine slate of films such as Housefull 2, Ferrari ki Sawaari and Vicky Donor which have not only performed well at the box office but also been successfully monetised across television and digital platforms.”
“We have continued to optimise our de-risking strategy with the combination of pre-sales and self distribution to give us consistent cash flow and provide visibility of revenues. We are especially encouraged by the box office success of a modest budget film like Vick Donor which demonstrated potential for smaller films among a growing multiplex audience and widening the appeal of our films.”
Films slated for release by Eros over the next two years include Chakravyuh by Prakash Jha (starring Arjun Rampal, Abhay deol), Attacks of 26/11 by Ram Gopal Varma, Go Goa Gone (starring Saif Ali Khan), Tanu Weds Manu Season 2, Namak starring Shahid Kapoor and directed by Prabhu Deva and Sarkar 3 by Ram Gopal Varma, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan.
Hindi
India’s telecom subscribers cross 1.32 billion in February 2026
Broadband base swells past 1.06 billion as Jio and Airtel tighten grip on the market.
MUMBAI: India’s telecom sector is ringing in steady growth once again adding millions of new connections every month while the race for broadband supremacy continues to heat up like a fiercely contested cricket match. According to the latest data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 1 April 2026, the total telephone subscriber base in the country reached 1,321.31 million at the end of February 2026. This marked a net addition of 7.31 million subscribers during the month, translating into a monthly growth rate of 0.56 per cent.
Wireless subscribers (including mobile and Fixed Wireless Access) stood at 1,273.31 million, registering a net addition of 6.97 million and a growth rate of 0.55 per cent. Within this, urban wireless connections grew to 730.75 million (growth 0.70 per cent), while rural wireless subscribers reached 542.56 million (growth 0.35 per cent).
Wireline subscribers, though much smaller in scale, showed slightly faster growth. The total wireline base increased to 47.99 million, with a net addition of 0.34 million and a monthly growth rate of 0.70 per cent. Urban areas continued to dominate wireline connections with a share of 89.41 per cent.
Overall tele-density in India improved to 92.66 per cent. Urban tele-density stood at 150.68 per cent, while rural tele-density edged up to 60.02 per cent.
The broadband subscriber base crossed a significant milestone, reaching 1,059.05 million at the end of February 2026. This reflected a healthy net addition of 6.33 million subscribers and a monthly growth rate of 0.60 per cent from January’s figure of 1,052.72 million.
Segment-wise, mobile wireless access continued to drive the majority of growth with 996.52 million subscribers. Fixed Wireless Access (including 5G FWA) added 16.51 million, while wired broadband stood at 46.02 million.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. maintained its commanding lead with 519.64 million broadband subscribers. Bharti Airtel Ltd. followed with 364.14 million, Vodafone Idea Ltd. with 129.36 million, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. with 28.70 million, and Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd. with 2.38 million.
Together, these top five players command a massive 98.60 per cent share of the total broadband market.
In the wireless (mobile) segment, private operators continued to dominate with 92.59 per cent market share, leaving public sector undertakings (BSNL and MTNL) with just 7.41 per cent.
Out of the total 1,257.29 million wireless (mobile) subscribers, 1,177.60 million were active on the peak Visitor Location Register (VLR) date, representing an impressive 93.66 per cent activity rate. Bharti Airtel led in this metric with 99.42 per cent of its subscribers active.
Meanwhile, 14.47 million subscribers submitted requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in February, indicating healthy competition and customer churn across zones.
While urban areas still lead in absolute numbers, rural connectivity is slowly catching up. Rural wireless tele-density stood at 59.46 per cent, compared with the much higher urban figure of 142.32 per cent.
Fixed Wireless Access using 5G technology also showed promising traction, growing to 11.93 million subscribers. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are the primary players driving this segment.
The data paints a picture of a maturing yet still rapidly expanding telecom ecosystem. With total telephone subscribers now well past the 1.32 billion mark and broadband users comfortably above 1.06 billion, India continues to solidify its position as one of the world’s largest and most dynamic digital markets.
From bustling city streets to remote villages, more Indians are staying connected than ever before proving that when it comes to telecom, the country’s appetite for growth shows no signs of hanging up anytime soon.
