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Earnings call · FY2027 Q1
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Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the GTPL Hathway Limited Q1 FY27 Earnings Conference Call, hosted by Emkay Global Financial Services Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Aryan Tripathi from Emkay Global Financial Services Limited. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Aryan Tripathi:
Good evening, everyone. I would like to welcome the management and thank them for this opportunity. We have with us today Mr. Anirudhsinh Jadeja, Promoter and Managing Director; Mr. Piyush Pankaj, Business Head, B2B, CATV and Broadband and Chief Strategy Officer; and Mr. Saurav Banerjee, Chief Financial Officer. I shall hand over the call to the management for the opening remarks. Over to you, gentlemen.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja:
Thank you. Welcome to the call of GTPL Hathway Limited to discuss financial performance of the first quarter of FY '27. As the country's largest MSO, we continue to take initiatives to further strengthen our presence across the Digital TV and Broadband businesses. We appointed Mr. Vivek Raina as our new Broadband business CEO to have a focused approach and lead growth in B2B and B2C segments. Both our Digital TV and Broadband businesses continue to demonstrate resilience and consistent operating performances. With the launch of GTPL Infinity, our HITS platform in FY '26, the recent acquisition and the recent acquisition of the ACT Group's Digital Television business, we are strengthening our platform for future growth and enhancing our ability to scale efficiently across key markets. The further details of the acquisition will be shared by Piyush Pankaj. Thank you. Now I hand over the call to Piyush Pankaj, who will take you through the KPIs for Digital TV and Broadband segments.
Piyush Pankaj:
Thanks, Mr. Jadeja. Good evening, everyone. Let me begin with giving you all an overview of the key highlights of this quarter. GTPL Hathway entered into a business transfer agreement to acquire the digital business of 7 ACT Group companies for an aggregate cash consideration of INR 36.23 crores and which is expected to get completed by 15th September 2026. The transaction is expected to add approximately 6 lakh Digital TV subscribers across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Karnataka market, thereby strengthening our presence in key Southern and Eastern markets and supporting our strategy of expanding the Digital TV business through both organic and inorganic growth. This acquisition will give us leadership position in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which will help us to trigger the synergic benefits for revenue consolidation and cost optimization. We are pleased to report that we entered two new strategic markets in quarter 1 FY '27, namely State of Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir.
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GTPL Hathway Limited July 16, 2026 By entering the Kerala State, we have expanded our presence in all southern markets. Now the KPIs for our Digital TV and Broadband business are as follows: First, Digital TV segment. Our Digital TV subscriber base as on 30th June 2026 stood at 9.60 million. Among the total subscriber base, paying subscribers stood at 8.9 million. The total business partners count now stands at more than 51,000 and they remain instrumental in fuelling our nationwide expansion journey. In the Broadband business, active subscriber base at the end of the quarter stood at 1,060K, 1.06 million, adding 10,000 new subscribers on a Y-o-Y basis. The Broadband ARPU for quarter 1 FY '27 stood at INR 470, increased by INR5 as compared to quarter 1 FY '26. Average data consumption per month stood at 436 GB per user, a 6% increase Y-o-Y. As we move forward, we remain committed to accelerating our expansion across new states, broadening our total addressable market and advancing our vision of becoming a truly panIndia Digital TV and Broadband player. Thank you. I will now hand over the call to Mr. Saurav Banerjee, CFO, who will take you through the financial performance of the company. Saurav Banerjee:
Thank you, Mr. Piyush. Good evening to all the participants. For the quarter on a consolidated basis, our total income grew by 12% year-on-year and 9% on a quarter-on-quarter basis to INR 1,020 crores. Subscription revenue saw an increase of 2% sequentially to INR 291 crores. The Broadband revenue stood at INR143 crores and registered a growth of 5% on a yearly basis and grew marginally by 2% sequentially. Consolidated EBITDA stood at INR 109 crores with an EBITDA margin of 10.7%. Net profit for Q1 FY '27 stood at INR 2.3 crores. Now looking at the stand-alone performance for the quarter. Our total revenue grew by a healthy 16% Y-o-Y and 12% sequentially to INR 693 crores. Subscription revenue saw an increase of 2% Q-on-Q to INR 213 crores. Standalone EBITDA stood at INR 64.4 crores with an EBITDA margin of 9.3%. Net profit for Q1 FY '27 stood at INR 1.9 crores on a stand-alone basis. Overall, our consolidated operating EBITDA stood at INR 101 crores in Q1 FY '27, registering an operating margin of 22%. I would now request the moderator to open the floor for the Q&A session.
Moderator:
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. We take the first question from the line of Saizal Agarwal from Desvelado Advisory.
Saizal Agarwal:
Hello. Good evening. Congratulations on the quarter. So my first question.
Moderator:
Sorry to interrupt, Saizal, I would request you to come closer to your device and then speak.
Saizal Agarwal:
Hi, congratulations on the quarter, firstly. So my question is on the ACT acquisition. So as the integration progresses, what would you consider the key milestone we should monitor for the coming months, like to evaluate whether this acquisition would be delivering the expected returns?
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes. So in ACT integration, you can say that we have around 6 lakh subscriber base, which we are looking forward to integrate. And the whole agreement is going to get closed by 15th
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GTPL Hathway Limited July 16, 2026 September 2026. So the full effect of that will start coming in the mid-quarter, quarter 2 and then the next quarter in quarter 3, which we will start seeing. And you will see that the number of subscriber has to go up by that much. And plus, it will enhance our revenues and it will be accretive to our EBITDA. So those things will -- you will start seeing it. And in calls also, we will give you the figures that -- how it is contributing to our overall business, this acquisition. Saizal Agarwal:
Okay. And like mostly the benefit would be coming through operating leverage or revenue synergies?
Piyush Pankaj:
The benefits will come on becoming a leader -- market leadership, having a market leadership in Andhra and Telangana market, which will give us the synergy benefits as we have presence over there and we are taking over this, we are going to be market leader and that will give us better operating margin in that market.
Saizal Agarwal:
Okay. One more question. Like Broadband home pass has expanded meaningfully over the last quarter. So all the subscriber additions have remained relatively modest. So going forward, like, is your priority to improve utilization of the existing network or you would be continuing to expand the home pass footprint?
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes. So the strategy in Broadband is, till date, we are not increasing our home passes, and we are going for the extraction of the subscriber base on that because already, if you see the percentage is at around 17% -- 16% to 17% is the extraction rate right now, which we want to go up to around 19% to 20% on this. But yes, as in my statement, we said that we have recruited a new CEO for the Broadband business, and we will have more focus that how we can expand all over India and increase our business in Gujarat market. And we are going to invest in increasing our home pass also and create more infrastructure for the future business, for expansion of the future business. So the focus will be back totally on the Broadband business that how we can expand that. And that is one of the main reasons that our CEO has been recruited and put it into the place to fuel that growth.
Moderator:
We take the next question from the line of Sohani Sing from SK Capital.
Sohani Sing:
So my question was with regards to the financial performance of the company. So despite the revenue growing 12% year-on-year to INR 1,020 crores, the PAT declined sharply to around INR 2.3 crores. So could you help me understand the key reasons for this divergence between top line growth and profitability and which operating factors created the biggest pressure during the quarter?
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes. So you're right, PAT has decreased around INR 8 crores Y-o-Y, if you see. And this is mainly because of higher depreciation and finance cost. If you go through the whole financials, you will see that the depreciation and finance cost has gone up by around INR 6 crores. And that is because of the capitalization of right-of-use assets related to HITS infrastructure in line with the accounting standards and conservative accounting practice.
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GTPL Hathway Limited July 16, 2026 The company has taken the full cost and capitalization of HITS, but the cost saving and other operational benefits related to HITS will start flowing in future quarters, which will show positive effect impact in coming quarters. And if you see the company is maintaining the operational margin and the margin will increase when the full benefit of HITS platform will be materialized. So we have taken all the costs regarding the HITS on the capitalization and other cost, which is on the transponder cost and everything. But still, as the HITS implementation is going on, the benefits of HITS and the saving due to the HITS is still to come into the books. And that's why we are seeing that difference in the PAT. If you see, at EBITDA level, it is just INR 3 crores down, but at the PAT level, it is at INR 8 crores down. Sohani Sing:
Okay, sir. So how much of the margin pressure is structural versus one-off? So can we expect margins to improve during FY '27?
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes. So the operational margin, which is at 22%, which we have shown, that will go up to 25%. And that will help us in increasing our EBITDA and PAT both at both the side.
Sohani Sing:
Okay. That helps. Also, the home pass stands at 5.95 million with around 75% FTTX ready, but the overall footprint appears to have remained broadly stable for the past few quarters. So could you tell me the pace at which GTPL expects to convert this existing footprint into paying broadband subscribers? And what are the key bottlenecks to the accelerating conversion?
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes. We are looking forward that out of this 6 million, 5.95 million home pass, we should have 20% to 21% conversion rate -- extraction rate. That should be there, which we are trying to achieve. Plus, now, we are going to invest back into the increasing our home passes. And there also, we are expecting that the healthy extraction rate should be 20% to 21%. So that's what we are aiming for, and we are looking forward as we are going to be more aggressive in the market for the Broadband.
Sohani Sing:
That helps, sir. So my next question is related to the recent acquisition. Could the management elaborate on the key synergies expected from the acquisition of the 7 ACT Group Digital TV businesses? And specifically, how should we think about the potential benefits in terms of market expansion, cost efficiencies and cross-selling opportunities?
Piyush Pankaj:
See, Andhra Pradesh and the Telangana market, if I will see, we already have more than 1 million subs. And adding this 6 lakhs, we are going to cross somewhere around 1.6 million, 1.7 million subs, which is -- we are going to be the largest player in that market. And that is going to help us in expanding also, expansion also. We're going to have a much, much better synergies in that market, and that will help us in operational synergies and vendor synergies, everything, and that is going to give us more margin in that market. So that's the benefit we will start seeing in the coming quarters as the deal will get closed, that's 15th September 2026, which we have to close before that on 15th or before that. So you will start seeing that effect in our P&L also. And as I said that we'll keep you informed in every call that how it is progressing and what more benefits we are getting out of this acquisition.
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GTPL Hathway Limited July 16, 2026 Sohani Sing:
So can you shed more light on what contribution are we expecting on revenue and EBITDA from this acquisition?
Piyush Pankaj:
Right now, we don't want to give it. First, we let the integration happens and get the deal get closed as this is getting closed by 15th September as we announced in public. So before that, we don't want to give any figures and all, yes. In the next call, we will get all the figures, and we will start getting it in the result also.
Sohani Sing:
One last question. So what is the planned capex for FY '27 across broadband expansion, FTTX conversion, HITS infrastructure and integration of acquired assets?
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes. So that's -- right now, we have kept at around INR 400 crores for this financial year, the capex, where it is going to be around 50% for Broadband and 50% for Digital TV.
Moderator:
We take the next question from the line of Dhara Mandhane from Sansej Investors.
Dhara Mandhane:
Am I audible?
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes, you are. Go ahead.
Dhara Mandhane:
All right. Yes. Sir, my first question was, how do you increase upsell to the higher tiers in Cable TV and Broadband?
Piyush Pankaj:
Come again, come again. Sorry, your voice was cracking.
Dhara Mandhane:
Yes. My question was, how do you encourage upsell to higher tiers in Cable TV and Broadband?
Piyush Pankaj:
Upsell. So you're talking about upsell?
Dhara Mandhane:
Yes. Upsell, yes. Am I audible?
Anirudhsinh Jadeja:
So actually, we are trying a pilot project in a few cities regarding this combo that you are, I think, referring to regarding the Cable TV and Broadband. So, so far, there is a good sign, obviously, because eventually, the idea is to bring them together and increase the broadband subscribers with the kind of number of cable TV we have. So I mean, I cannot exactly tell you the plan, but it's so far looking as a good sign.
Piyush Pankaj:
So we have started the combo products already it is in our stable, and that is growing very good. And that combo product is more of Cable plus Broadband plus Other services, games and everything. And that's a very promising product and which we are upselling to both our Cable and Broadband subscribers, bringing them. That is increasing our stickiness and plus this is increasing our revenues on that side.
Dhara Mandhane:
Okay. And sir, in case of -- in a scenario of stronger competition on price, what are the levers you would use to protect margins and market share in Cable TV and Broadband?
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GTPL Hathway Limited July 16, 2026 Piyush Pankaj:
See, we are number one Digital TV provider right now, as you see. And we are increasing our -- we are expanding in different states. Already, we have in 26 states and 5 UTs and only 2 states are left and I think 3 UTs are left. And that's why we have gone for Headened In The Sky (HITS) technology where we have the signal at every nook and corner of the country now. And we are looking forward that how we can expand into -- densely we can expand into every districts of India going forward. It's more of like if you're in Aurangabad, then you're not only in the city, you're in the whole district, you're in the whole villages and everything, which is covered. As you know, that India, around 350 million households are there, only 210 million households are TV households. So still, there is a long, long way for India to go. Same in the Broadband, if you talk about 3 billion households in India and only something around 50 million are in the Broadband in the FTTX. So still a long, long way to go. And here, we have to create the infrastructure, which is future ready to expand your business and cater to the need of the customers. So that's what we are doing, and we are hopeful that this strategy will work.
Dhara Mandhane:
Okay, sir. Got it. And sir, how is the HITS infrastructure operationalization panning out currently? If you could shed some light?
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes. Very good. Already around in the Headend-in-the-Sky, we have seen that around 2.5 million existing subscribers have been converted into Headend-in-the-Sky platform and around 200,000 new subscribers have come into the platform. We have saved around -- the bandwidth saving has already come into the effect of around INR 4 crores in the first quarter. We are looking forward that it will increase with the time. And so HITS is, I will say, successful. We have started the whole thing somewhere in the February and March start. And in the last 4 months, a little more than 2.5 more you can say it’s close to 2.7 million subscribers are there in this platform. So yes, we are looking forward that in the coming quarters, more savings, more operational benefit and more penetration in the new markets. New markets means not in the state, I'm talking about the districts now. So that will help us in the business in the whole side.
Dhara Mandhane:
So roughly, when you -- like when can we expect full benefits from like?
Piyush Pankaj:
You will start seeing it in the somewhere in the end of quarter 3 and start of quarter 4, the whole benefits of Headend-in-the-Sky, which will come into the effect. So this year, you will see that somewhere around 40% to 50% benefit has come over the year because we are expanding doing the things. And from the next financial year, it will be 100%.
Dhara Mandhane:
Okay, sir. Okay. And sir, how is the traction on Buzz app? Like any metrics in terms of downloads, daily, monthly active users, digital subscription renewals, hours of content watch that you would like to throw out?
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes. So already given that the data consumption is increasing in the platform. Already, it has reached to around 436 GB per user that way, so per user per month and total 436 GB per month. So that is increasing and that is showing that the more consumption is happening and
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GTPL Hathway Limited July 16, 2026 the consumption is happening in all type of things. So I don't want to go into the platform specific platforms and all in this call. But yes, overall, the consumption is increasing every month for us in the Broadband business. Dhara Mandhane:
Okay, okay. that's great -- got it. And sir, in the Broadband, ARPU is INR470 per month?
Piyush Pankaj:
ARPU has increased from INR 465 to INR 470, and that is mainly because of people are shifting from lower packages to higher packages, high speed packages.
Dhara Mandhane:
Okay. Okay, sir. Got it. And how sustainable would be this ARPU trajectory over the few quarters?
Anirudhsinh Jadeja:
Yes, it will remain constant.
Piyush Pankaj:
It will remain somewhere around INR470 for right now.
Dhara Mandhane:
Okay. Okay, sir. And sir, the Digital TV revenue has declined year-on-year, while active and paying subscribers remained stable. So is the pressure mainly due to lower realization, channel mix discounts or competitive pricing?
Piyush Pankaj:
No, it is more of -- as you know, I have given that in the earlier calls also, the churn is there. And you are entering into new markets, where the ARPU is a bit lower than the established market. Because of the change in the ARPU complex, the revenue is showing a bit dip, but that will come back as we go more aggressive on the expansion as HITS platform has already been launched, and we are going to be very aggressive, like we are doing the acquisitions right now, and we do more acquisitions and more aggressive expansion in the market.
Dhara Mandhane:
Okay, sir. Okay. Got it, sir. And sir, lastly, the average data consumption has increased to 436 GB per month per user. Is the higher usage translating into upgrade to higher speed plans? Or is it mainly increasing network cost like without proportional ARPU upside?
Piyush Pankaj:
No, it is both. People are shifting to higher and the utilization is also getting increased.
Moderator:
We take the next question from the line of Pahel Sharma from DD Capital.
Pahel Sharma:
Am I audible?
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes, Pahel. Please go ahead.
Pahel Sharma:
Yes, sir, I had a couple of questions. Starting with, we have entered 2 new markets this quarter, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala, if I'm not wrong. What strategic rationale drove GTPL's entry there? Would it be Cable TV expansion, Broadband opportunity or cross-selling potential?
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes. So we have started expanding first the entry is at the Digital TV, and it is through the Headend-in-the-Sky in these 2 markets. As you say that these are the 2 new markets, which we have not earlier there, and we wanted to have the presence in those markets. The opportunity for broadband is very high in these two markets both, and we have got a lot of inquiries on that. So soon, we are going to launch the broadband in these 2 markets also. Yes, these are,
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GTPL Hathway Limited July 16, 2026 you can say, lucrative markets as J&K and Kerala, both are lucrative markets. So we look forward for a good outcome and good revenue and margin over there. Pahel Sharma:
Okay, sir. Got it. What is the current addressable subscriber base in these 2 markets? And what subscriber addition target does management expect over the next, let's say, 12 to 18 months?
Piyush Pankaj:
See, targetable, if you talk about the total TV households at Kerala market is somewhere around 7 million is there, 6.5 million to 7 million subscriber base is there, and it is spread over DTH and cable operation. We already have around 75,000 to 80,000 of base over there, and we are looking forward that we are going to continue and grab more market over there as the potential is there. J&K also, which is around the addressable market, is somewhere around 5 million -- 4.5 million to 5 million. And we look forward that we will become a major player in the J&K also.
Pahel Sharma:
Okay, sir. Got it. Sir, my next question was what upfront investments are required in these markets, like in the terms of network, LCO partnerships, set-up boxes, marketing and customer acquisition?
Piyush Pankaj:
We entered as inorganic and organic in both way in these markets. And the investment, you can say, it is hard to see what is the investment because we have to see with the return and all. STBs, as you see, it is -- STBs, you have to give it for every subscriber base. So it all depends, the investment based on whatever subscriber base we are going to achieve from that. It's based on the per subscriber base. And all other costs, the fixed costs and all are very less when we are doing it in the Digital TV side. Yes, when we're going to start the Broadband, we have to do some fixed cost investments and all, which we will do in the future.
Pahel Sharma:
Okay, sir. My next question was regarding ARPU. How should we think about ARPU and EBITDA margins in these new markets versus GTPL's existing core markets?
Piyush Pankaj:
As you enter into the new markets, we have to give some discounts and all. And that's why in the beginning, we want to achieve to a scale where you can sustain the business and you can have a good margin on that. That takes in any market, the cable businesses from 6 to 12 months. And after that, you will start making the money in those markets. So we are looking forward to that. And till that time, some investment will be made, you can say. And then we will start seeing the returns in those markets on the ROA or ROI basis.
Pahel Sharma:
Okay. Okay. Sir, are these markets expected to be breakeven from day 1 through maybe existing local partnerships or will there be an initial gestation period before profitability improves?
Piyush Pankaj:
That's what I say that to make a market positive in cable business, it takes 6 to 12 months. So there is going to be a gestation period of 6 to 12 months to make the business positive in that market.
Pahel Sharma:
Okay, sir. And sir, my last question. What is the competitive intensity in these markets from DTH, local cable operators, Jio, Airtel Broadband and AirFiber like offerings? And what will be GTPL's differentiation?
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GTPL Hathway Limited July 16, 2026 Piyush Pankaj:
See, in any market, you will see the competition is like this only. And as I said that the whole addressable market is somewhere around 6.5 million to 7 million in Kerala and 4 million to 5 million -- about 4.5 million to 5 million in J&K. So it's a large market, and we have to make the strategy that how we can grab more and more market of that so that we can establish ourselves and make the business as a very good margin in those. So that is going to happen. Competition is there all over India. So we are doing the competition. It's not the problem.
Moderator:
We take the next question from the line of Vivek Gupta from Star Investments.
Vivek Gupta:
Sir, am I audible?
Anirudhsinh Jadeja:
Yes.
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes, Vivek.
Vivek Gupta:
Sir, the GTPL Infinity, HITS has been launched and the management mentioned encouraging traction. So can you share early adoption metrics, target consumer segments and the expected monetization timeline for the same?
Piyush Pankaj:
It's a long-term platform, Vivek. It's more of once you start giving because it's a fixed cost, transponder costs are fixed, you can serve to 1 million also and 50 million also in this platform. So as the number of subs grow, your operational margin increases in this platform. So it's not that it's a variable like in CATV that wherever we have to go, you have to go with the P2P or through fibre and all, which is variable cost and the cost grows with the number of subs. Here, the number of subs, the costs are fixed. And as you are increasing the number of subs, your operational margins are increasing. So that's why we are looking forward to that. So it's not that as fast as we can continue growing our subs in HITS platform, it will give us more margins and the operational margin will increase. So that's what we are looking forward being all of India player and still we want to grow the Digital TV in India, having a lot of potential on that side. We are looking forward that we will expand and make more and more margins on this platform through this platform.
Vivek Gupta:
Okay. Okay, sir. Sir, just a follow-up on that. Like what kind of cost savings do you expect from this GTPL Infinity versus the traditional Headend model, especially on signal distribution, maintenance and the network operations?
Piyush Pankaj:
Yes. So I'll just give you an example that if I have to go for a traditional CATV, then I have to take a P2P or fibre to reach that place, like I talked to you about Chhindwara. Chhindwara is one place in Madhya Pradesh. If I have to reach there, I have to take the point-to-point fibre from providers, telco providers or other providers, and we have to keep the cost -- variable cost of that. And I will say that the cost is somewhere around INR 10 lakh per month. On INR 10 lakh if you divide it by 12, it is like INR80,000. And in INR 80,000 if you are serving 5,000 customer per month, so it's like INR20 is what your cost is around INR 80,000. So your INR 20 is going
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GTPL Hathway Limited July 16, 2026 just for the delivery cost here. And same if you are just serving 1,000 customers, it's INR 80 as a delivery cost for 1 subscriber. So you are getting from the subscriber INR 125, INR 130 as ARPU plus tax, whatever and the distribution cost is just INR80. So it's not feasible to do the business on that basis. So you can't go for a sub base less than 5,000 on that connection. And that's why you have to leave your markets. You can't go into the rural markets because there, you will find that there is a village of 500 houses, 100 houses, 1,000 houses and you can't serve them because it's not financially feasible. Through Headend-in-the-Sky, you are reaching everywhere and we have a fixed cost. So you can serve anyone. You can go and serve for a 100 house village, 50 house village, 200 house villages also, plus you can serve the whole city also, it's not a problem. So there are the restrictions that -because of the financial feasibility on restrictions of subscriber base on to how you can grow or how you can serve has gone. So now you can expand freely. Wherever you want to go, you can go and you can add the subscriber base. And that's why still the rural market has lesser TV and still 140 million to 150 million households has no TVs because people can't reach over there. If DTH can reach, but they are very costly, and you have to go for that cost, which is not affordable for rural markets. So all those things are there. So that does give us an edge that how you want to do, what strategy you can make. And if you are on satellite, then you have the market open for you. Vivek Gupta:
Okay. Okay, sir. So the average data consumption has increased to 436 GB per user per month. So is higher usage translation into upgrades to higher speed plans? Or is it mainly increasing the network cost without proportional ARPU upside?
Piyush Pankaj:
No. See, higher GB means -- it doesn't mean that the cost is increasing because you are maintaining the cost through optimization of your network and augmentation of usage of bandwidth and all. So that doesn't translate into higher bandwidth cost and all. But yes, if usages are increasing, then that is encouraging my customer to go into higher brackets. And that's why you are seeing that if you take the -- our ARPU around 2 years or 3 years back, it was at around INR 400, INR 410, INR 420. That has gone up to INR470 in now. And that is mainly because of that lower bracket subscribers are going for the higher bandwidth and higher speed packages. So that is the case. But yes, you don't translate this into increase in the bandwidth because you maintain the bandwidth cost through optimization of your network and all. It's a healthy sign for the business that your consumption are increasing.
Moderator:
We take the next question from the line of Priti Agarwal from SK Associates.
Priti Agarwal:
I wanted to know that how is the industry managing rising content acquisition cost? And what strategies is GTPL adopting?
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GTPL Hathway Limited July 16, 2026 Piyush Pankaj:
Content increase that is happening every year or every second year, as you know. And we are managing through our partners, I will say broadcasters are our partners. We are managing through negotiating with them by absorbing the cost somewhere at some point of time in the back, we have increased our price also in the ground. But yes, somehow we are -- together, we are sitting and doing the negotiations with our partners, with the broadcasters. And we are seeing that no one should lose, even our subscribers and our partners, the LCOs and all. And if it happens, then we both absorb some of the cost on that basis as a partner and we move forward. So that is the way it is. It's more of the negotiation. And yes, we, being the largest MSO, yes, we have moment which we utilize and we have that pleasure. And I will say that our partners, which are the broadcasters, are helpful in this. We sit together and take the course that how we should go ahead and take care of our subscriber base and our network partners and all.
Moderator:
As there are no further questions from the participants, I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you.
Piyush Pankaj:
Thanks a lot for taking your time for attending the Quarter 1 FY '27 Earnings Call for GTPL Hathway Limited. We look forward to interact with you next quarter. Have a good evening, and thank you once again.
Moderator:
Thank you. On behalf of Emkay Global Financial Services Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.
Piyush Pankaj:
Thank you.
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