Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q3 FY25 results conference call of GTPL Hathway, hosted by Emkay Global Financial Services. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions at the end of today's presentation. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Pulkit Chawla from Emkay Global Financial Services. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Saurav. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Q3 FY25 earnings call for GTPL Hathway. From management, we have with us today Mr. Piyush Pankaj, Business Head B2B and Chief Strategy Officer, Mr. Aniruddhasinh Jadeja, Promoter family and Chief Business Officer, and Mr. Saurav Banerjee, Chief Financial Officer. Without any further delay, I shall now hand over to the management for the opening remarks. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Pulkit. Good evening, everyone. A warm welcome to everybody to the earnings call of GTPL Hathway to discuss the financial performance of Q3 FY25. Our company remains the largest MSO and a prominent player in the fixed broadband landscape in the country. Both the business segments, cable TV and broadband, continue to increase the customer base, driving the business forward. Our long track record of subscriber growth is a testament to our constant efforts to create value for our valued customers. We constantly evaluate organic and inorganic avenues for growth. As a company with a national footprint, we are actively pursuing expansion opportunities in states beyond our traditional strongholds of Gujarat and West Bengal. Advancement of broadband subscriber count will also be achieved by taking advantage of our extensive network of LCOs and B2B partners.
We strongly believe that the current industry landscape is one of migration towards value, and this presents an opportunity of consumer consolidation from smaller, inefficient players. In the nine months of this financial year, we have launched services such as GTPL Buzz, consumer app loaded with innovative features, AI chatbot Jiva for ease of consumer self-service, and industry-first TVkey Cloud in collaboration with Nagra. At GTPL Hathway, one of our core philosophies is to keep moving forward, provide entertaining services, and constantly explore opportunities for growth. These are the principles that reflect in our business undertaking as well. I now hand over the call to Mr. Piyush Pankaj, who will take you through the KPIs for the cable TV and broadband segments.
Thanks, Param. Good evening, everyone. The usual KPIs for both the businesses are as follows. First, cable TV segment. Our digital cable TV subscriber base as of 31st December 2024 stood at 9.6 million. Among the total subscriber base, paying subscribers stood at 8.9 million. On a YoY basis, the increase in both active and paying subscribers is 200K, respectively. In the broadband business, active subscriber base at the end of the quarter stood at 1042K, which is 1.042 million, adding 37K new subscribers, which is an increase of 4% on a YoY basis. Homepass stood at 5.95 million as of 31st December 2024, of which 75% are available for FTTX. Homepass grew by 6% on a YoY basis, registering an increase of 350K on an absolute basis. The broadband ARPU for Q3 FY25 increased by INR 5 YoY and stood at INR 465.
Average data consumption per month stood at 365 GB, a 6% increase YoY. Base of subscriber addition remains healthy in both the segments, particularly for the cable TV segment, which we highlighted in the previous earnings call. Efforts towards customer addition and retention by on-ground employees were hindered by extended rain and flood in various parts of the country. As these phenomena subsided in the quarter and normal operations resumed, we have once again resumed the trend of achieving sequential addition to our subscriber base, besides registering growth on a yearly basis. Broadband business achieved steady onboarding of new subscribers with positive development across key monitorable, as highlighted above. Wireline broadband continues to be under-penetrated in our country, with demand driven by the need for reliable high-speed data at affordable prices. I will now hand over the call to Mr.
Saurav Banerjee, CFO, who will take you through the financial performance of the company.
Thank you, Mr. Piyush, and good evening to all the participants. On a consolidated basis for the quarter, total revenue grew by 4% YoY to INR 8,957 million. On a sequential basis, this translated to a growth of 4%. Subscription revenue stood at INR 3,024 million, and the broadband revenue stood at INR 1,383 million. Consolidated reported EBITDA stood at INR 1,138 million, at an EBITDA margin of 13%. Operating EBITDA for the quarter was INR 1,021 million, with a margin of 22%. Net profit attributable to the parent stood at INR 102 million. Consolidated figures for nine months FY25 stood as follows. Total revenue grew by 7% YoY to INR 26,083 million. Consolidated reported EBITDA stood at INR 3,481 million, at an EBITDA margin of 13%. Operating EBITDA for nine months was INR 3,143 million, with a margin of 22%. Net profit stood at INR 374 million.
On a standalone basis for the quarter, total revenue grew by 8% YoY and 4% QoQ to INR 5652 million. Standalone reported EBITDA for the quarter was INR 654 million, at a margin of 12%. Operating EBITDA for the quarter was INR 549 million, thus implying a margin of 22%. Net profit stood at INR 107 million. Standalone figures for nine months FY25 stood as follows. Total revenue grew by 7% YoY to INR 16537 million. Reported EBITDA stood at INR 1995 million, at an EBITDA margin of 12%. Operating EBITDA for nine months was INR 16 million, at a margin of 23%. Net profit for the period was INR 397 million. I would now request the moderator to open the floor for the Q&A session.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Again, you may press star and one to ask a question. Our first question comes from Mamta Agarwal from Matrix Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thank you for the opportunity. Am I audible?
Yes, Mamta. Please go ahead.
Sir, my question is, many listed companies over the past month have won orders towards the phase 3 of BharatNet project. I think most of these are towards the equipment and infrastructure side of things, right? And we as service providers provide for broadband. So what is the opportunity size for us from this scheme?
BharatNet project, as you know, that BSNL and BBNL. BBNL has launched that, and recently, they have launched for 60 states. And the tender has been filed and given, and the results have been announced also, but it is under judicial matter right now. We are also waiting that once the judicial matter will be over, then it will be pursued. Yes, the company is participating on that, and we are looking forward that as the judicial matter will go over, will get over, then we will come back to the investor and tell them what we got, what we don't. Yeah.
Okay. Great. Sir, my follow-up question is, did we also do the same work, some of these companies, such as HFCL and ITI? Or our scope of work is different?
No, it is the same as those companies. We have already did a BharatNet project, which is granted by GFGNL in Gujarat, which you can see in 2020-21 balance sheets in our balance sheets and financials that we considered it as an EPC project. So we did that. We did the implementation of 17,000 kilometers fiber laying on the GFGNL, connecting around 4,000 gram panchayats. So we successfully did that project in the stipulated timelines of two years and handed it over back to the GFGNL. And we are doing the operation and maintenance of that project currently.
Okay. Sir, we have also participated in the previous phases. So will we do the same in phase 3 and win some projects?
Yes, we are looking forward to that. We already have the capability and developed in the company, and successfully, we did a big project, so yes, we are looking forward to that.
Okay. And sir, what is the quantum of orders expected, execution time, and margin profile?
Right now, can't disclose those because it is under the judicial matter. Once the judicial matter will be over and we will get the documents and all in hand, then we will disclose it to BSEs also, and disclose it to the investors also.
Okay. Okay, sir. No problem. Sir, again, follow-up question on this. Besides BharatNet 3, are there any other government initiatives the company can participate in for project work? Can you share some details on opportunities and?
Yes, yes. We are looking forward to that, and we are applying for different government projects, and we are hopeful to go get those.
Okay. Okay. Sir, my second question is, based on your announcement and commentary, I'm aware you have launched initiatives on cable TV side for new services. What explains rising ARPU on broadband side?
ARPU on the broadband side, yes. This quarter, if you see, it has gone up, and it is now at INR 455. That is mainly due to the demand from the customer for higher packages, which is going on. We are launching some of the higher packages at higher ARPU. And that is what the ARPU will be driven by. So if you see from last eight quarters, we are between INR 440 to INR 460 in the ARPU. The first time, we have gone up to INR 465. So we are looking forward that with this strategy of introducing higher speed packages and all, and which the customer demand is there, we will increase our ARPUs.
Okay. Sir, a follow-up on this. If I calculate your value gain, which I'm assuming as ARPU gain, INR 465 over INR 460, it comes close to 1.1%. And your volume gain in terms of subscriber count comes to around 3.10%. That is 1042K subscribers versus 1005K subscribers a year ago. If I broadly combine them, then your revenue from broadband should have increased approximately by 5%. But when I see your presentation, it is only a 2% growth in broadband ISP revenue. So can you help me walk through this difference, please?
This INR 5 has happened over the quarter, which is you have to average it out. So if you average it out, this 5% increase, it will come to 2.5%. And because some of the subscriber base is there of the B2B subscriber base, where there is a lower ARPU on that whole basis, so that's why it is coming to around 2% on that basis. So if you see, there is no increase in subscriber base from last quarter. It is from 1040, it is 1042. So this quarter is a bit limited on the increase in the subscriber base. ARPU has gone up, but we have to take that ARPU as the average. So then it will come to 2-2.2%.
Oh, okay. Okay. Fair enough. Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you. The next question comes from Yash Matray from Cruise Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello. Hi. Hi, sir. Good afternoon. My first question will be, can you share some insights on the consumer app and the downloads, the reviews, and initial responses from the public?
Yeah. So the responses are very good. Actually, when we launched GTPL Buzz, it is with the live TV. Plus, we have introduced the DistroTV and the gaming Blacknut, the gaming all are together there. Plus, the general app for the complaints and maintenance and services and all. So it's more of like out of, you can say, the already downloaded app, which is converted into GTPL Buzz app now, which is somewhere around, you can say, more than a million subscriber base right now on Buzz. Plus, we will see that when we launched the new app, the overall around 150K more download has happened in the last three months, three to four months time. So that's the first thing we are seeing. And we are getting the good customer response, you can say, feedback on Buzz. Yeah, this is a good app.
People are taking the gaming app also, Blacknut, and around 6,000 subscriber base has come into the gaming site right now from the last four months.
And also, sir, I understand the app is free right now. So what are the revenue channels? Can you just expand on that?
No, this is GTPL Buzz is more from the retention side. Revenue channel is more of what we launched, the additional services of gaming, which is there. DistroTV is more or less free for our customer. And live TV is free for our customer. Plus, all the services, complaint services, and all everything which was already there in the app, which is now in the enhanced mode. So this app is mainly for the retention side, which will make the customer sticky. Plus, gaming, yes, gaming services is small revenue, which we can say. But yeah, there are services available for the gaming now, which we are promoting to the customer, which will see how the revenue happens with that with the time.
I think my final question would be, sir, these costs that are associated with running the service, would they increase as the user base increases? Or what are the strategies that we have in place? Because as users increase, the costs are increasing, and we're not charging the users. I think that would affect our revenue.
App running charges, maintenance charges, no, no, app maintenance charges are very, very less. It is more of that once you add around 500,000 customers, then your cost increases on that basis. So right now, you can say 1.3 million downloads, which has happened. Close to 1 million was already there for the old app also, which is converted into new app. So we can say from last three months, we are seeing witnessing somewhere around 200K increase in the app side. So yes, when it will cross around 500,000, then some small cost will come up. But it's not very significant cost in maintaining these apps.
Understood. Sir, just one last question. As the company started bundling up our services, there is competition from Airtel Xstream, which leaves us with very little room for pricing power. So how do we plan to operate in this segment, and what do we bring to the table, which is different from these companies?
Yeah. So see, the two products that are going to be cable and entertainment and broadband, that is going to be ours. Others are going to be third party. You're right, taking the third party app or third party services, there is a very small room for that, which actually Airtel and Jio is also doing. Jio has their own app also because of that. But overall, if they are doing the combining of other apps and all, that is for the third party. And there, the room is smaller. But the room comes in how you are doing it for the entertainment and broadband. So we'll create the room over there on the pricing, and we have created. As you know, the HITS prices and our prices, cable prices are already there is a gap, and HITS prices are higher than us.
Same on the broadband, when we are fighting, they are lower than the 30 Mbps at our price. We are providing on those at 50 Mbps and 60 Mbps and 100 Mbps, which we manage in that way. So there's a room there to fight with them on the pricing side on our own products.
Got it, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question comes from Sahil Vora from M&S Associates. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. Am I audible?
Yeah, you are.
My first question is, I saw on the stock exchange regarding investment in a subsidiary for some INR 11-12 crore. So if the management may help provide with some rationale for the acquisition, since we are already holding 51% stake and the subsidiary numbers were already being considered in our consolidated results, so what exactly was the rationale behind making it a wholly owned subsidiary?
Yeah. It's a wholly owned subsidiary because what we are doing is, as you know, that we are consolidating the subsidiaries, and as you can see in the presentation back in 2021, we did the merger of around 11 companies, Bhatia and Bhaja. The same way we want to do and reduce the going forward number of subsidiaries and all, which is around 26 right now, and that's the endeavor to go ahead and do it. Here, what we are doing is that there are outstanding, which is like three tariff outstanding and all, and through that, we are converting it into 51%. The cash flow outflow is almost nil in this whole transition, but yes, the valuations and all are there for those companies because already in that JV, if you see, country and state, there are around 100K subscribers. So the valuation is there.
But yes, there is outstanding and all, which is getting converted, which will get converted on that. And the cash outflow is almost negligible in this transition.
Okay. That helps. My next question is on the cable TV business. My apologies. I wanted to understand that we as distributors pass on price hikes by broadcasters to the customers. And I remember you had mentioned last year that certain broadcasters had increased channel prices leading to a blackout-like situation for a couple of weeks in an extreme scenario. And recently, as per media articles, major Indian broadcasters, including JioStar, Sony Pictures Networks India, and Zee Entertainment Enterprises, have announced significant price increases ranging from about 10%-18%, effective February 1st, 2025. So I just wanted to understand a couple of things. How exactly long does it take for us to pass on the price to the end consumer?
Right now, the prices and all have come in the first week of January, and we are busy in the board meeting and all. So already, we are assessing the whole situation, but how to react on those and talk to our because broadcasters are also our partners, more like a partner. So how to talk to them and there. They also wanted to talk to us about how they want to take the whole price and all those things to the consumer level. And how to resolve this whole situation that the price hike has happened and how to take care of the consumer base and the whole industry side, so that has just started right now. We are still in the early stage of that, but yes, you are right.
The price hike has been announced, and we have to tackle that at the company level also, at the industry level also, and at the consumer level also. So that is going on. We will be more clear in the coming days. And we look forward that we'll sit with our partners, and we'll see how to resolve this.
Sir, on the impact at the consumer level, do you foresee some impact of this on subscriber count coming under pressure?
See, seeing in the situation of the industry right now, we have to assess that whether any price hike at the ground level, the price hike can be observed or not. So that assessment has to come. And we have to see because once you go for the price hike, the likely situation is that churn will happen on the consumer base or whether the situation is like that because yes, that some price hike can be observed by the ground, by the consumer or not. So those assessments are still we have to do. It is going on. And appropriate decisions will be made in the coming months, in the coming time for this.
And, sir, lastly, on the financial side, what do you think the impact it would have on our company finances? Will quantum of pay channel cost increase be higher than the revenue beyond from placement, carriage, and marketing side?
See, if the pay channel cost is going high and if we are increasing the price also, that is going to be accretive to my whole balance sheet and whole P&L, but yes, we have to see the ground situation, the industry situation at this point of time, that whether those price hikes can be absorbed by them or not, so we have to do the assessment. Yes, theoretically, if price hike happens by the broadcaster and we can successfully pass that to the ground, then it will be going to be accretive to my P&L and margins.
Okay, sir. Thank you so much for the detailed response and all the best. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Srir am Bhat from Franklin Templeton . Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Am I audible?
Yeah, you are.
Yeah. Sir, I just have two questions. Sir, on earlier call, it was mentioned that price hikes by telecom companies for wireless data packages would lead to customers shifting their preferences to wired broadband. So, sir, what updates have you seen towards that front? Have business inquiries increased? And how has the company capitalized on the sale?
Yeah. So you're right on that. We have seen that that happened in the second quarter, as you see, that the price hike has been announced. And suddenly, we have seen that people are shifting to wireline from wireless, and inquiries were made. But yes, it was muted in this quarter, you can see. You can see from Diwali onwards, it is a bit muted. And we are looking forward that more price hike is announced. Expected to perform, then again, we will see that the users are shifting from wireless to wired. But yes, I think still the data cost at the telecom side is still at a suitable swing right now. We have to see that more price hike happens on those.
So yes, there is, you can say, we have seen for one quarter that effect, and then it is a muted response.
Okay, sir. And sir, one more question. Sir, subscription is the part two result.
Sorry to interrupt. Ram, sir, your voice was not clear initially. Could you please repeat the question once more?
Hello? Yeah. Am I audible now?
Yes.
Yeah. So, sir, when I look at the trend of your subscription income growth since the past two results, it has decreased both year-on-year and sequential during Q2 results and again in Q3 results. What explains this decrease despite rising subscriber base?
Yeah. So see, August to October month was unprecedented for the industry where we have seen there is no major event. The major event has completed, and there is extended rain and flood, which hampered the customer acquisition and retention efforts. We have witnessed high churn during this period and lower customer acquisition. And you can see that last quarter, we have resulted in customer decline. So we have started recovering after Diwali and mainly in November and December month, and you will see that number has gone up by 200K again, back to square. But the increase in revenue of this 200K, the whole revenue increase will be witnessed in next quarter only. So we have seen that there is a decline in the.
Also, we lost customers in established and mature markets, and we are gaining customers from new markets, which will have an effect in the lower-grade RPOs because in the new market, when we are going, we are going at the lower RPO, a bit lower RPO, and we are using the established market, the higher RPO customers. So those are the effects which are happening. But we are hopeful that the coming quarter is going to be positive, and we will quickly recover the decline because major critical events are there. Elections are lined up in quarter four and four twenty-five. We will start getting the whole revenue of these customers, which we added in quarter three, which we added mainly in the summer.
Those are the bright signs which we are looking forward to, and we are hopeful that again we will be at the same revenue level. It has not gone much. If you see, on the nine months to nine months, it is just the INR 11 crore which we are down right now. And that is because of quarter two and quarter three effect, which we are hopeful that we can try to recover in quarter four.
Noted, sir. And sir, just one follow-up. It was good to note that quarter-on-quarter rise of the customer count in cable has increased. Can you then guide on what year-end FY25 and for FY26 your subscriber count should look like in both businesses?
See, FY25 and FY26 and 27, I will say, next financial years, as we are going to change the delivery technology which we are going on. I will talk about that in quarter four, much in quarter four, as we are changing it from the fiber to satellite, which we are doing right now, Headend in the Sky, going on the Headend in the Sky. But I will talk about the Headend in the Sky in the next quarter and how it is going to give us, the company, the access to the whole all over India, what are going to be main targets on that, how we are going to increase our subscriber base, how it is going to affect our costing, and what the positive impact will going to happen on that. As I will going to give you in quarter four.
We are trying to launch that in quarter six, this Headend in the Sky, and it is going to be very, very positive for the company.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your touch-tone phone. Our next question comes from Rahul Jain, individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Am I audible?
Yeah, you are.
Sir, can you share breakup of enrollment subscribers addition from B2C and B2B of the current 37,000 new additions?
Yeah. On 37,000, on the YoY basis, you can say that the B2B is around 22-23K, and the rest is B2C. So more is coming from 50% is coming from B2B right now on that basis. B2C is a bit muted on that basis.
Okay. So it's a follow-up. How is the B2B tie-up progressing for broadband?
Yeah. B2B is going good. We have more than 100K now on the B2B. Mainly, you can say that a lot of pipelines are there in the B2B side, and the market is quite open, as you know. Mainly B2C, we are doing in Gujarat market and some of these specific cities. But B2B, we are doing all over India, except from the Gujarat and those specific cities. So the market is open, and there is a lot of inquiries and all that. But yes, as if we are doing the broadband, as I said earlier in my calls also, we have to see the technology compatibility in that way, that yes, fiber is compatible, and we can put the equipment, the last mile-up compatible and all. So a bit more time takes in the technical evaluation and integration of those.
But yes, a lot of inquiries are there, and we are progressing well. As you can see, that in the last seven to eight months, we are already more than 100K. And this year is good for B2B on that basis, that this year already we have made this more than 100K plus. So we are looking forward that this business will start taking off in a better pace from next financial year as we introduce more people in this.
Sector.
Sector, in this segment, and we'll go aggressive on that.
Okay, sir. Sir, one more follow-up on that. TRAI data shows that while still nascent adoption of the wireline broadband is increasing with the top five players, all increasing subscriber counts despite varying results in their wireless subscriber count. This also aligns with whatever guidance has been. However, I have been expecting faster growth on the broadband side, given you are also now actively focusing on B2B. When I compare your net additions, even on an absolute basis, the trend has been slowing sequentially, like 15K new subscribers sequentially in Q4 FY24, 10K each in Q1 FY25, and Q2 FY25, and now 2K in Q3 FY25. Are you facing more competition or have some dynamics shifted in the market?
No. It's more, you see, if you talk about the telcos, mainly Jio and Airtel, they have gone mainly to the B2C, and they are investing and going for all over India market. In the B2C, we are not going to all over India. When you are doing B2B, then you have to be dependent upon the equipments and all from your partner side. In B2C, you are doing your own investment because the customer acquisition cost is high. If I talk about our customer acquisition cost, it's like INR 5,000 for one customer in B2C. In the B2B, that comes down to INR 1,200-INR 1,500 only. So that's the way of investment we have to see that whether you want to go ahead and do those investments or not. Yes.
On the industry side, you can say, yeah, wired broadband industry from last four years, you can say from 20-22 million, it has gone up to more than 44-45 million now. And the main gainer is your Jio and Airtel, which is now at 14.8 million. We have gained, but we have gained from 600 to 700 to 1 million. And now we are muted on that way because we are just in one state, which we are doing right now, the B2C in the mainly. And that state is not providing that opportunity of growth right now. But yes, B2B, we are growing, and we are seeing that with B2B, if possible, we will start doing the B2C also in different markets. But right now, we are focusing on B2B.
Here also, we have to, as now in the last eight-to-nine months, we have developed that how to make it a bit faster, the whole thing, which we are looking forward that we will start seeing some good customer addition from.
Okay, sir. Sir, from what I could have observed, headend and subscription income stayed same as Q2 FY25. That would have meant that at least at the EBITDA level, we would have been only marginally down year on year. However, if the CFO can help me with this, why has the interest cost shown a sudden jump sequentially? It is largely the higher interest cost that aggravates my movement from EBITDA down to PAT. So if some clarity can be provided on that.
Yeah. So, sir, here, interest cost has gone up primarily because of two reasons. One is that the overdraft utilization has been on the higher side for the past few months. In terms of utilization, overdraft facilities are usually taken from the banks for these purposes, that whenever there is an outflow, which is required to be done in terms of payables and all, the utilization is on the higher side. And again, it tapers down towards the end of the fourth quarter. So this is one of the reasons. Whenever there is a higher utilization, the interest cost naturally will start going up on a temporary basis. The other reason is that we are investing in the HITS project, as you might be aware. And for that, we have taken some borrowings from the banks, especially to cater to the HITS project.
So these are in the nature of term loans. And again, when we utilize those term loans to ensure that the HITS project is moving on the right track. So till the time it goes live, there will be these interest costs attributed to the HITS project. So these are the two reasons why the finance cost is showing a slightly, I would say, a higher trend than what it was earlier.
Sir, just wanted to know, what's your debt profile currently? Earlier, you used to be net negative, and it seems like the debt levels are increasing slowly.
Yeah. As I said, the debt levels have increased because of the project costs that we are investing in, particularly the HITS. But if we were to take away those project-related borrowings, then it's just the only utilization which will move up and down during the year. So effectively, for the core business activities, there is hardly any new debt on the book. It is mostly attributable to project costs.
The loan for the new project Headend in the Sky, this is for the short term, you can say, which once we will launch the Headend in the Sky, and due to the saving of operational costs and all, and which is already there, we are going to pay back this loan and reduce again the whole loan. Right now, if you talk about the net debt basis, hardly it's around, you can say, the debt is on the net debt side, the debt is hardly around 15 crores more on the whole scenario in the bank. On the whole scenario in the bank, that's why we have not stated this quarter, but we have net debt zero and net debt negative right now, but yes, this company will again become net debt negative by, you can say, somewhere September or December 2026.
True. And in any case, these are term loans. So it's like an EMI kind of a situation with the bank. So there's a repayment which keeps on happening every month. So when we utilize the term loan and then the repayment starts immediately over a period of time, let's say 12 months, a substantial part of the term loan will get anyways repaid.
Yeah. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you for answering the questions.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Saket Kapoor from Kapoor & Co. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Namaskar, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, you were mentioning about this HITS and the sky project. So if you could just dwell more into how much have we spent, how much have been the capex on the HITS project, and if you could just elaborate the benefits, how are we going to in terms of efficiency also, if you could just explain the same.
Saket, that's what I said earlier, that I will disclose this whole thing on the next quarter, the whole project, that what we invested in that, the project cost and all, and what is going to be the benefit for the whole company, and what are the savings which we are going to do. Yes, it is like a very exciting one because you will see that there is a lot of savings on the delivery side, and the expansion of market will happen because you are available in the inner corner of the country, your segment now. So yes, there is going to be exciting time after this. But yes, all the details we will going to disclose in next quarter.
Okay. And we have already spent money on the project, sir, or we will be doing it and then first elaborating the same and then the Capex?
We are expanding it already. You can say that the project is around 80% completed on the CapEx side, and we are just looking forward that by next quarter, the whole project will be completed and we will be ready to launch.
How much have we spent, sir?
That I'll give you in the next quarter. I'll give you in the next quarter the whole project, that part of the project cost and all. But yes, you can see that already we are spending that, and those are in the financials also. So we are absorbing all the CapEx in the current business only.
If that seems you have already mentioned that going ahead, we would be able to connect the nook and corner of the country. That is clearly hinting towards the satellite part of the story that even Starlink is trying, and the government is also coming up with more clarification on how one can participate in those auctions and all. I think there's something related to that. So if you could just give understanding, sir, then what would the amount of money that we have spent on laying down on fiber, how will that supplement? That would be a supplement to the CapEx that we have done? It will be supplementing the previous CapEx?
It will be complementary on that basis, that whatever we have done the investment in our investment in the fiber, plus we are going headend in the sky is different from what the Starlink and all are doing, but Starlink is on the broadband side. We are doing on the satellite broadband. We are not into the satellite broadband. This is a traditional way of taking the TV signals to the homes and to the operators headend-in-the-sky technology, and so yes, by going into the satellite, my signals are going to be available in every nook and corner of the country, and that is going to give me the advantage over others, and we can exploit that in a positive way and expand our business very quickly, so yes, we'll give you all the details in the next quarter. That's the way.
I'm not giving you the details because still the Capex are happening and all. We are still waiting for the clearance from some of the departments from the government, which we have already applied for, looking forward for the license obligations to be completed, the license which is going to be granted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Those obligations are still some are pending, which we are taking right now. So that's why we wanted to give you all the details in the next quarter.
Sir, when we look at the wired broadband part of the story and the home passes, for the wired broadband, it is the OFC that is the bedrock for the transmission of signals. And for the home passes, the fiber to the home, it is the structured cables. Are these things segregated and correct, sir?
Yeah, yeah. You're right on that way because right now, cable and broadband, we can go through the same fiber. But yes, you have to put the active instruments, active devices on that for the broadband. But yes, you're right that broadband will continue to be on the fiber, but that will be because the bandwidth requirement for the B2B business are smaller. You can do at a very less cost on that basis. But if you are doing the cable, it is the costs are higher on that way on the fiber. So we have to see on that basis. Yes, those business will do. We are going to give the combined services, combo packages, and everything that is what we are doing right now, that we continue with the HITS and all those things. So that is not a problem on that side.
Okay. And sir, can you give the CapEx number or how much have we spent on the recurring CapEx for both OFC and structured cable for the period ending December?
Yeah. So Capex, yeah, so total Capex, as we have given that for the annual Capex, we are going to do the INR 350 crores. Out of that, we.
350.
We did INR 265 crores right now.
Okay.
On the TV side, we did the cable TV side. We did INR 160 crores, and the broadband side, we did INR 95 crores till nine months, 31st of December 2024. So that's the figures.
360 is the total figure, and out of that, 265 have been spent.
That's right. That's right. INR 265 crores have been spent out of INR 350 crores.
Okay. And out of this 265, sir, cable pay kitna hoga or equipment pay kitna rahega?
Cable pay, you can say because mainly in the CATV, the main CapEx happens for the set-top boxes. So out of INR 160 crores, you can say around 90% is on the cable boxes. Rest is on the fiber and all.
Okay. And sir, now, yes, sir, you were telling something?
No, no, no. Thanks. Yeah.
So, sir, going ahead, we are going to see this OFC, structured cable, and the technology which you are speaking for, which you will be getting the approval, complementing each other and then creating an entire ecosystem for how broadband and the cable TV business model will work like. This is what should be the good understanding?
Yes, you're right, and this will give us the opportunity to penetrate into the rural side also, in the rural area.
Okay. But the backbone for communication is fiber, and that is going to be there. Whatever new technology also become, it will going to be transmitted through this bedrock of fibers only. That understanding is correct? Or we are getting any technological change?
Broadband is going to be on the fiber. Your cable is going to be on the satellite, and both are merging at the customer level.
Okay, sir. And sir, data centers pe both GCC and data centers pe kaafi discussion hota hai. And a lot of money is also being poured into creating the infrastructure. So in this ecosystem, have we found out any business opportunity? How can we create or being ancillary or proxy to this segment, or it is altogether a different sphere for us?
We have the enterprise segment, which we have described that we are doing the BharatNet projects. We did the BharatNet projects, and we are hopeful to do more projects. And one of the segment is data centers also, which we are exploring. Our team are exploring, and in a very positive manner, we are exploring that. And we are looking forward to expand that. Already, we have those capabilities. We are trying to get the projects for those also.
BharatNet 3, sir, just concluded. So have we got any of our bids converted into any order or any update on how we will participate in?
I updated in the call also that we will update you because it's a judicial matter right now.
Ajha, sir.
We are waiting for that to complete, and then we'll announce anything.
Okay. Whatever has concluded, we have somebody has challenged that. That is the reason why you are not speaking.
Yes. Yes. Yes. We are looking forward for the judicial thing to complete, and we'll announce anything. Yes, you're right.
Thank you, sir. Thanks, sir, and all the best. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thanks. I would like to express my thanks to every participant who took their time out to attend on this call. I would like to thank Emkay for organizing this call. For any queries, please feel free to contact with Orient Capital, who are our investor relations advisor. Thank you and have a good day.
Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Emkay Global Financial Services, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.