SITI Networks mantains steady growth Trajectory

SITI Networks Limited, formerly known as SITI Cable Network Limited, an Essel Group Company, (BSE: 532795, NSE: SITINET) has released their Unaudited Consolidated Financial Results for the Second Quarter, ending September 30, 2016. The Company announced 5% quarter on quarter EBITDA growth in Q2FY17 to INR 50 Crores. Revenue grew by 20% year on year to Rs. 291 Crores.

Broadband Services: The company’s broadband operations added 2.7 lakh home passes in the quarter taking the total footprint to 14.6 lakh homes. Broadband customer base also grew to 1.95 lakh by Q2 FY17 exit, up 17% over Q1FY17. SITI is currently offering the most aggressive plans which provide great value for the discerning Broadband Customer. The current average speed on our DOCSIS Network stands at 14.3 Mbps with average data consumption/ subscriber at 59 GB/ month.

SITI Cares: The company launched SITI Cares, an innovative initiative aimed to building a pro-active service experience throughout customer lifecycle for both broadband & video customers. The program works from on-boarding of customers, to managing their experience throughout their lifecycle.

HD Services: SITI’s continuous focus on HD services has started to yield results, with SITI HD+ customer base up 40% over Q1FY17 to 91,000. To further strengthen its HD base, the company has realigned its sales strategy and rolled out limited period bundled HD services offer for upgrading its SD subscribers.

Video Services: SITI Networks is now present in ~400+ locations serving a total digital subscriber base of 8.7 million customers. Subscription Income (On Net Billing Basis) has grown by 33% year on year to INR135 Crores. As per provisions of the Model Interconnect Agreement (MIA), the company moved to Net Billing in Delhi and Mumbai from August 2016 onwards.

MY SITI Channels: The company rolled out MY SITI proprietary local channels launched in MP & Rajasthan, focused towards providing hyper local and community relevant content to viewers.

Tie-up with BSNL: SITI Networks and BSNL have tied up to distribute Live TV services to BSNL’s mobile customer base. These services will be available as bundled data vouchers and VAS services.

While commenting on the results, Mr. V D Wadhwa, Executive Director & CEO, SITI Networks Limited mentioned –

“We continue to grow our digital subscriber base steadily with incremental improvements in monetisation seen in certain Phases. This could have been significantly better but for the delay in digitization because of pending Court cases, which continues to impact monetization 2 | P a g e in the Phase 3 areas. Although the majority of the stay orders have been vacated by the Honorable Delhi High Court, the closure of the balance pending cases will lead to complete switch off of analog signals, improve monetization and significantly spur the growth of the industry

The expected implementation of the new Draft Tariff Order will be a game changer and is more beneficial for the distribution platforms post execution. However, the success of the same will lie in its effective implementation”