GTPL Hathway Added 11,000 Broadband Subscribers During Q3 FY19

HIGHLIGHTS

• In broadband, the company added 350,000 Home Passes in the third quarter
• The expenses of the company went up by 4% and were pegged at Rs 236.6 crore

GTPL Hathway has released its Q3 FY19 earnings report. The cable and broadband service provider revealed that its consolidated EBITDA for the quarter ending on December 31 has declined by 8% to Rs 83.3 crore against Rs 90.2 crore in the trailing quarter. The company’s margins also took a dip as they fell by 2.4% down to 26% from the previous quarter’s 28.4%. The net profit of the company, however, saw a rise by 17% QoQ (Quarter on Quarter) and it stood at Rs 19.7 crore instead of the previous Rs 16.8 crore. The consolidated revenue of the company, was however pretty stagnant as it only saw an increase of 1% and rested at Rs 319.9 crore as opposed to the previous Rs 317.4 crore. Cable TV subscriptions for Hathway also grew at the same rate and reached Rs 179.8 crore. Broadband and Placement revenue both went up by 1% and rested at 36.2 crore and Rs 71.2 crore respectively.

Rise in Pay Channel Costs for GTPL Hathway

Talking about the expenditure, the company highlighted that the expenses went up by 4% and were pegged at Rs 236.6 crore. Pay channel cost also went up in the same ratio, and it came out to be Rs 137.7 crore. The standalone profit of the company increased by 33% to Rs 13.5 crore. EBITDA also dropped by 6% stood at Rs 53.7 crore. The revenue was stagnant, and it stood at Rs 208 crore as against 205.2 crores. Expenditure also rose by 4%, and it rested at Rs 154.2 crore.

It is worth noting that in the given period, i.e. the third quarter of the FY, GTPL sold 300,000 set-top boxes (STBs) thus marking the total number of seeded STBs at 9.50 million. The subscriber addition reported by GTPL was 200,000 Active STB subscribers during the said period, making the active STB subscriber count touch eight million. The company has also added 170,000 digital paying subscribers during the quarter thus pegging the total digitally paying subscriber count to 7.45 million. In broadband, the company added 350,000 Home Passes in the third quarter thus pushing the total count of home passes to 2.15 million. Approximately 11,000 broadband subscribers came onboard with GTPL during Q3. The ARPU for broadband subscribers was Rs 430.

GTPL MD Expecting for Better Transparency After New Trai Order

GTPL Hathway MD Anirudhasinhji Jadeja said about the performance of the company, “In an environment of uncertainty, GTPL Hathway has continued to post steady performance. Our first 9-month revenue and PAT are up by 14% and 10% respectively; reflecting the inherent strength of the company’s offerings and quality customer service. The new tariff order has put customers at the centre of the business; providing them with the freedom to make their own choices. As India’s one of the leading MSOs, we expect higher monetisation across the phases and better transparency as a direct fall out of the new order.”

It is also worth noting that during the third quarter, GTPL was announced as the Project Implementation Agency (PIA) of Package B for implementation of BharatNet Phase – II, a project in the state of Gujarat by Gujarat Fibre Grid Network Limited (GFGNL). As part of this work, GTPL will connect 3,767 GPs (Gram Panchayat, Package B, Saurashtra region) by means of end-to-end Optic Fibre Cable and digital infrastructure at Centralised network operations centre of Gandhinagar in Gujarat.