News Broadcasting
VSNL to buy Indian ISP for Rs 750 million
MUMBAI: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) is strengthening its broadband presence in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) segment. The telecommunications giant has agreed to buy out Direct Internet Ltd (DIL) and its wholly owned subsidiary Primus Telecommunications India Ltd (PTIL) for Rs 750 million ($16.7 million).
US-based Primus Telecommunications Group Inc will exit from India, selling its entire 85 per cent stake in DIL. VSNL is also buying out the remaining 15 per cent held by an Indian partner. The deal is expected to be completed in a few weeks, VSNL said in a statement.
PTIL provides fixed broadband wireless internet services to SMEs in several Indian cities. The company has close to 1,000 SME and 10,000 retail customers. Out of a total revenue of around Rs 550 million in FY 2006, nearly 80 per cent came from the SME segment. Retail business accounted for 15 per cent while Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) contributed to around seven per cent of the company’s income.
The retail customers are likely to be rehomed in VSNL while DIL will focus entirely on the SME segment. The company’s operations will continue to be run with the old management. “The huge infrastructre of VSNL will allow DIL an opportunity to expand in the SME segment. VSNL has massive bandwidth which will offer DIL’s operations greater efficiencies. In the past, we were buying bandwidth on a leased basis and this was consuming 60 per cent of our costs,” says DIL and PTIL founder-CEO Tilak Sarkar.
This will be VSNL’s first SME-specific acquisition in the internet space. VSNL had earlier acquired DishnetDSL for Rs 2.7 billion and Tata Power broadband for Rs 2.39 billion which gave it broadband subscribers in the retail as well as the SME segments. DIL, on the other hand, has mostly SME subscribers.
“The SME segment is a lowly penetrated but growing market. VSNL sees this as an opportunity to expand its presence in the broadband space,” says an analyst.
VSNL has been aggressive in acquisitions over the last one year. While it bought Tyco International’s global under-sea fibre optic cable network unit in July 2005, recently it acquired telecoms network service firm Teleglobe International Holdings Ltd.
Nasdaq-listed Primus Telecommunications, an integrated communications services provider offering international and domestic voice, VoIP, internet, wireless, data and hosting services to business and residential retail customers, had reported a net revenue of $1.19 billion in the 2005 fiscal.
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.
