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WWIL to focus on digitisation & acquisitions
MUMBAI: Wire and Wireless (India) Limited plans to invest Rs 1 billion this fiscal if the government announces the roadmap for digitisation.
The multi-system operator (MSO) expects to seed 400,000 digital set-top boxes (STBs) and add digital head-ends, while continuing to fund acquisitions.
The investment requirement in case of a normal year would be Rs 400 million, allocated mainly towards digitisation and small-sized acquisitions. WWIL in such a situation would seed 200,000 STBs in the full-fiscal ended March 2012.
“Our focus will be on digitalisation, acquisitions and launching of new services for our customers that will give us healthy ARPUs,” said WWIL chief executive officer Sudhir Agarwal, while declining to comment on the company’s investment plans or growth targets.
How will the acquisitions be funded? “This will be through internal accruals. Acquisition will be done on a case to case basis, considering synergy, strategic and long term goals,” said Agarwal.
So where is WWIL going to expand through acquisitions? “We are focusing on strategic acquisition of primary subscribers and also on partnership models. We have planned and are committed to increase our footprint across the country especially in West & South,” said Agarwal.
WWIL is expecting its carriage revenue from broadcasters to grow by 25-30 per cent this fiscal. In FY’11, the MSO had earned a carriage income of around Rs 1.8 billion.
“Carriage will remain a significant contributor to the overall revenue of the company. We expect to see a growth of 25-30 per cent in carriage this year,” said Agarwal.
The company targets a 30 per cent growth in revenue this fiscal, crossing the Rs 4-billion mark.
What is WWIL’s broadband plan? “We are currently more interested in the wire line sector of broadband especially in Eastern & Northern part of the country. Going forward, the focus will be on the wireless segment of broadband,” said Agarwal.
WWIL posted a consolidated operating revenue of Rs 3.06 billion in FY’11, up 12 per cent from the earlier year,, while net loss narrowed to Rs 659.2 million.
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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.
