How Reliance Jio is consolidating presence in entertainment
Live MintLast week, Reliance Industries Ltd said it was acquiring majority stakes in Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd, and Den Networks for ₹ 5,230 crore. In July, Reliance Jio had first announced its single service provider Jio GigaFiber, the high-speed fixed line broadband targeting 50 million users across 1,100 towns and cities. Agrees Mihir Shah, vice-president at research firm Media Partners Asia: “The recent cable acquisitions, combined with Reliance Jio’s own GigaFiber push will expedite fibre broadband adoption, reinvigorating growth in the country’s highly under-penetrated fixed broadband segment. Furthermore, Reliance will gain access to approximately 24 million Pay-TV homes to add to its mobile broadband reach of more than 250 million subscribers, making the company India’s largest distribution platform for linear and non-linear video content.” Given the high subscriber fragmentation in cable and an under-penetrated fixed broadband market, CCI intervention is also unlikely. “We expect Reliance Jio might continue this path of inorganic growth focusing now on acquiring strong regional MSOs.while other smaller operators too might be compelled to join forces,” Shah adds.