Ortel Communications Ltd

Ortel Communications Limited, incorporated in 1995, is a regional cable television service provider engaged primarily in distribution of cable television services, high speed broadband services & Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. Ortel Communications is a regional cable television and high speed broadband services provider focused in the Indian states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. The Company has built a State-of-Art two-way communication network for Triple Play' services (video, data and voice capabilities) having HFC network (combination of optic fibre in the backbone and coaxial cable in the distribution network) with control over the Last Mile'. It pioneered the primary point cable business model in India by offering digital cable television, broadband and VAS services. Currently, business of the Company is broadly divided into (i) cable television services comprising of digital cable television services including other value added services such as HD services, NVoD, gaming and local content; (ii) broadband services; (iii) leasing of fibre infrastructure; and (iv) signal up linking services. It has legal Rights of Way' for laying network cable and capable of providing broadband at speed of up to 100 mbps through use of cable modem with DOCSIS 3.0 technology. Ortel is a pioneer in providing Convergence Communication Services in the Country. Ortel services provided under the brand names 'Ortel Home Cable', 'Ortel Digital' and 'Ortel Broadband' are well known names in the regions in which Ortel operates. In March 2015, the Company came up with a Public Issue of 12,000,000 Equity Shares comprising a Fresh Issue of 6,000,000 Equity Shares and an Offer for Sale of 6,000,000 Equity Shares. In 2016, the Company started its operations in two new states; Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. By way of proactive plans and aggressive buying out of local cable operators, the company was able to increase its operational locations to seventy 70 from 39 during the previous financial year. During the financial year ended 31 March 2017, the company's financial performance was adversely impacted due to factors such as; competition from new players, challenges in digital implementation in smaller markets. During the year, the company focused in consolidating the newly acquired markets in the recent past. During the year under review, the company continued to be a dominant player in the Cable TV market in Odisha and continued to consolidate its position in the states of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. With competition across the Industry, the broadband growth was static during the year. Financial year 2017-18 (FY 2018) was a challenging year for the company due to delay in collections, higher competitive intensity in the market as well as issues pertaining to debt payment. The Management reviewed the details of receivables and took a firm step by creating provision of Rs. 679.40 million against doubtful receivables, declaring bad debts of Rs.123.60 million and issuing credit notes of Rs.162.50 million. This amount is primarily on account of disruption of services during the process of digitization and acquisition of local operators. During the year under review, the company continued to be a dominant player in the Cable TV market in Odisha and continued to consolidate its position in the states of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. As on 31.03.2018, the total Cable TV customer base has been increased to 7,66,980 (Previous Year: 7,50,471) which is a 2% growth over previous year. With mandatory digitization under phase III and Phase-IV, the company aggressively worked to maximise digitization and has made a significant growth in its digital subscriber base. With competition across the Industry, the broadband growth reduced during the year. To offer better experience broadband speed to the customers, the company has withdrawn all the schemes where the download speed was below 2 Mbps. During the year under review, the company incorporated 'Ortel Broadband Limited' as its wholly-owned subsidiary company in Delhi to provide internet services. In 2019-20, the Company implemented DOCSIS 3.0 high speed broadband service.