GTPL Hathway on Tuesday announced the results for its fourth quarter and year ended March 2020 with the company reporting a subscription revenue of Rs 264.7 crore in the fourth quarter. The subscription revenue represents an 27% year-on-year (YoY) increase and 3% increase from the previous quarter. The company engaged in digital Cable TV and broadband services said that it added 700,000 paying subscribers in the year ended March 2020 in its Cable TV business. Further 150,000 of those subscribers were said to be added in the fourth quarter alone. In its broadband segment, GTPL Hathway has 400,000 active subscribers with 80,000 added in the financial year ended March 2020 including the addition of 30,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter. The company reported a net profit of Rs 77 crore in the year ended March 2020 representing an 302% YoY increase with 41% YoY increase in Cable TV subscription revenue.
Broadband Consumptions Sees 54% YoY Increase
The company said that the data consumption per customer on average was 162GB per month as of March 2020 as compared to 102GB per month in March 2019, representing an 54% increase.
GTPL Hathway said that the broadband segment reported an 16% YoY increase in revenues. Further, the company is said to have emerged as one of the largest private wireline broadband service provider in Gujarat.
The average revenue per user for the year ended March 2020 is said to be Rs 422, representing an 2% YoY increase.
New Tariff Order Drags Cable TV Segment
GTPL Hathway said that it has seeded over 700,000 Set-Top Boxes (STB) during the year ended March 2020. The company noted that the total STBs seeded to customers has now surged to 10.2 million as of March 31, 2020.
However, GTPL Hathway said that the year ended March 2020 was the first full year of implementation of a new tariff framework across the industry and that has hurt the earning profile of local cable operators (LCO). The company has marked 67.9 crores as “exceptional items” due to the changes in the framework.
“FY20 was the first full year of implementation of the New Framework across the industry,” Anirudhsinh Jadeja, managing director of GTPL Hathway, said in the release. “Implementation of new regime prima facie resulted in change in LCOs’ earning profile adversely and restricted their cash flow cycle, consequently, lowering their ability to pay their dues to the Company.”
It has to be noted that the company expanded into Tamil Nadu during the year ended March 2020, thereby expanding its presence to 12 states across India. GTPL Hathway also expanded its presence in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh with the subscriber base increasing by 30% in the two states.
Additionally, it was also said that the company had regained its subscriber base that was initially lost due to NTO implementation.
