Mumbai: As part of its strategy to ramp up the rollout of the ambitious high-speed broadband network, Giganet, Reliance Jio is likely to own more than 25 per cent in Raheja Group owned Hathway Cable and Sameer Manchanda owned DEN Networks.
Relinace Jio has initiated talks with leading MSOs after its attempts to crack the Local Cable Market and get access for its fiber failed due to strong resistance from Local Cable Operators.
The deal expected to be announced in the next few days and both Hathway and DEN have told the stock exchanges that the respective boards are meeting on 17th October to discuss and approve a proposal for raising funds and Subsequently, Hathway and DEN are likely to issue fresh shares and a seat on their board for RIL’s representative, As a result, the Promoter stakes in both firms are likely to drop significantly.
DEN is strong in Uttar Pradesh and North India, while Hathway is strong in Central and Western India, Hence, buying stakes in Hathway and DEN will be a major boost to Jio as both the operators have 7.2 million digital cable subscribers each with operations across 550 cities.
Hathway also enjoys over 52 per cent share of the total cable broadband market in India with 0.77 million subscribers and the ability to reach 5.5 million homes. DEN has the ability to reach 0.97 million homes and has 106,000 broadband subscribers. Jio has its plans ready on how to use existing infrastructure of MSOs (multiple system operators) to give both video and broadband services.
