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Post Hathway, GTPL invests Rs 2 bn in expansion
MUMBAI: Ahmedabad-based Gujarat Telelinks Private Ltd (GTPL), a joint venture where Hathway Cable & Datacom has 50 per cent stake, has invested Rs 2 billion as it has spread its wings to cities within Gujarat and outside.
After Hathway acquired stake in late 2007, the bulk of the expansion has been in Gujarat. The multi-system operator (MSO) has also spread out to West Bengal, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
“We have invested Rs 2 billion. Our plan is to further invest around Rs 1 billion in the next fiscal if the digitisation pace gathers steam,” says GTPL managing director Anirudhsinh Jadeja.
GTPL has acquired 51 per cent in Kolkata Cable and Broadband Pariseva to set foot in West Bengal. It has also started operations in cities such as Ranchi, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Sangli, Satara and Vidarbha. In Gujarat, it covers over 30 cities and is a dominant player in that market.
“We are expanding in cities where Hathway doesn‘t have operations. We have either acquired operators or started on our own in these cities,” says Jadeja.
Pursuing its digitisation programme, GTPL plans to deploy 300,000 digital set-top boxes from Cisco over the next 12 months.
“We do not have an IPO (initial public offering) plan at this stage. We may look at it in future,” says Jadeja.
Hathway is already listed, having raised Rs 4.8 billion last year via an IPO.
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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.
