DEN to expand its fixed broadband services to 100 cities in 2018; plans to roll out in 500+ cities, across 11 million homes in the coming 2-3 years
New Delhi: DEN Broadband Pvt. Ltd., India’s fastest growing fixed broadband Internet service provider (ISP) announces expansion of it’s hi -speed internet services to 100 cities across India. After an encouraging response to the pilot project in five cities, DEN has already started its first phase of expansion in 15 cities. After the completion of this phase, DEN Broadband will enable 1.1 crore Indian households with high-speed broadband services by 2020.
DEN’s expansion plan is in sync with the massive growth in the internet consumption in the country. Data usage in India has already jumped 144 percent (y-o-y) with average consumption per user in 4G Broadband reaching 11GB per month. Moreover, the rise in data consumption has not been matched by a corresponding increase in the speed of connection. While India globally ranks 67th in fixed broadband speeds with an average download speed of 20.72 Mbps, mobile broadband speeds still lags at 109th rank with an average download speed of 9.01 Mbps, as per Ookla’s speedtest Global Index, Feb 2018 report.
DEN intends to tap this untapped, high-potential market by capitalising on its existing Cable TV infrastructure and providing hi-speed fixed broadband internet. With speeds upto 1Gbps at affordable prices, DEN Broadband will cater to the future needs of Internet while penetrating further into the untapped markets. Currently, about 6% Indian households have a fixed broadband connection in a market of 284 million households, while most leading developed nations have a market penetration of above 70%.
DEN has an edge as its fiber cable infrastructure is already present across 13 major Indian states with a reach of over 13 million subscribers’ homes. DEN plans to roll out through a franchisee model, which will leverage its strength as a leading national MSO with an established on-ground Cable LMO network to usher in a broadband revolution in the entire country. Its 14,000+ LMO network would use its technology while adhering to the operational standards set by DEN. Being the franchisor, DEN will bill the subscribers directly and collect tariffs from them directly. The franchisee would get paid based on their agreement and size of their investment.
The 10-year old, next-gen MSO’s fixed broadband infrastructure is being built using a mix of GPON/FTTX and Metro Ethernet technologies enabling download speeds from 20 Mbps till 1 Gbps. It estimates a CAPEX investment of not more than 100 crores over the next 3 years. This expansion plan is targeted towards 100 cities across states where DEN has a strong foothold such as UP, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand amongst others, thereby strengthening its existing customer base further.
Commenting on the launch, DEN Networks CEO Mr. S.N. Sharma said: “This is a game-changing moment not just for DEN but also for the Internet users in the country. Our hard work and investment in transforming our Co-ax cable trunk routes into fiber optics will now yield tangible results. For DEN it will mean a minimum investment whereas for our users it will mean best in class Internet speed.”
