Reliance Jio Advances Plans to Buy Stake in Hathway and DEN Networks

As per an ET report, a highly placed source talked about the deal and said “Both Hathway and DEN will issue fresh shares. The fine print of the deal is being worked out.” The official pointed out that Reliance would own more than 25% in the companies and less than 50% to strike a balance.

Reliance Jio’s Second Attempt at DEN Network’s Stake

One of the people aware of the matter said, “RIL continues to look at various business plans at any given point of time. But the past two months have been crazy and totally under the radar. The plans are ready on how to use the existing infrastructure of MSOs (multiple system operators) to give both video and broadband services.”

It’s noteworthy that last year Reliance Jio had also begun talks with DEN Networks to acquire a stake in the company. However, the discussions couldn’t come to fruition. This year, Reliance Jio is aiming to get a stake in Hathway to supplement its Reliance Jio GigaFiber venture actively.

The experts have already said that the combined 7.2 million digital cable subscribers under both the companies across 350 and 200 cities will be a significant boost for Reliance Jio. On top of that, Hathway enjoys 52% share in broadband connections across the country with 0.77 million subscribers and 5.5 million homes within its reach, whereas DEN boasts of 0.97 million homes under its umbrella and 106,000 broadband subscribers.

The official also remarked about this move by Reliance Jio saying, “There is no or very less overlap in the two cable markets. While DEN is strong in Uttar Pradesh and north India, Hathway is strong in central and western India. Also, with five DTH players, none of the operators is in a dominant position in any market, so there is no question of monopoly.”