Digicable eyes small cable businesses

NEW DELHI: With the entry of Digicable, the latest debutante in the digital cable space, the industry is all set to get further consolidated. Promoted by former WWIL CEO Jagjit Singh Kohli and his partner Yogesh Shah, the company is looking at acquiring smaller cable businesses across the country. UK-based private equity investment company Ashmore Investments recently got an FIPB nod to pick up about 47% in Digicable.

Digicable’s promoter Jagjit Singh Kohli said: “We have lined up aggressive plans and would be looking at acquiring small cable operators pan-India. Our operations would have a pan-India focus.” The company is looking at investing about Rs 1,000 crore in stages in the next 3-4 years. Following the stake pick-up by Ashmore Investments, the company hopes to invest less than Rs 500 crore in the initial stage.

“I don’t want to elaborate on our immediate plans,” Mr Kohli said. “All I can say is that we are in the process of setting up one of the largest MSO networks in the country.” He added that the entire landscape of the currently-fragmented cable industry is set to change and will see large-scale consolidation.

After the I&B ministry rolled out India’s digitising plan, Digicable is the second largest company to enter the space after Global Broadcast News’ joint managing director Sameer Manchanda decided to float Digital Entertainment Network (DEN). Unlike Digicable, which is looking at acquiring cable operator businesses, DEN is looking at giving cable operators small equity stake.

Currently, India is said to have over 60,000 cable operators. In the 1990s, when cable television entered India, anybody who could made a minimum investment of Rs 2 lakh could start a cable operation business after registering at the post office.

“What started out as a great plus point has today become a bottleneck in being able to bring any uniformity and transformation in digitising Indian entertainment,” said a senior Trai official.