Internet is rapidly converting from being a source of luxury to a means of necessity. Increasing need and availability for mobile applications, OTT, and gaming applications has already triggered demand for high-speed wireline Broadband internet. The pandemic has brought in the cultural shift and led to a steep increase in demand of internet usage for purpose of work from home, and school from home, etc.

This huge scope and unpenetrated broadband market and the experience of working in mass-market with cable TV and available infrastructure paved the way for GTPL Broadband Pvt. Ltd., to enter the internet service space. The company provides high-speed broadband internet through a fibre optic network. GTPL was incorporated in 2007. It is the 6th largest private wireline fibre broadband internet service provider in India, with a vision to provide high-speed broadband internet at affordable prices.

In this exclusive interview with GTPL, Mr. Aniruddhsinhji Jadeja, Managing Director of the company shares with us insights on the internet service space. Below are the highlights of the interview.

Please tell us about your company, its inception, its vision/ mission, and its overall journey in the arena of internet services.

In August 2006, we consolidated the cable services business in Ahmedabad and Vadodara and formed GTPL. Hathway acquired a 50% share in October 2007. GTPL has grown consistently and is the second-largest multi-service operator (MSO) in India today, serving an estimated 10.8+ million households in 1000+ towns across 15 states in India with a presence in Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Goa, Rajasthan, Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Odisha, and Telangana.

Currently, more than seven lac active customers across different states of India enjoy high-speed broadband internet services of GTPL Broadband.

What kind of offerings do you provide to your clients? What makes your company a preferred choice over your competitors?

To cater to various requirements of the users, we offer broadband internet with different speeds starting from 40 Mbps to 1Gbps. We offer broadband internet services on a prepaid platform. The customers have the option to choose plan validity ranging from 6 months to 24 months, depending upon their requirements.

Moreover, as a promotional offer, we provide ‘free to use router/ONT, free installation and no security deposit’ with a new broadband connection.

Our wide coverage and offering of high-speed internet, as well as digital cable-TV services, makes us a preferred choice for many customers.

What kind of challenges have you faced while entering the internet services space?

During the initial period of operations, offtake of broadband services was limited to selected cities and premium customers due to the limitations of availability and acceptance. Customers were just getting used to using narrowband data through mobile phones as well as state-owned service providers.

Fast changing technology, high infrastructure cost, and physical connectivity posed major challenges for us while making an entry into the broadband market space. The adoption of GPON technology has helped us overcome the challenge of providing high-speed unlimited internet services to our subscribers.

How much was your company/business been affected by the challenges imposed by the pandemic and what were the steps taken by you to curb the damages all the while helping your clients and maintaining the safety of your employees?

The year 2020-21 will forever be remembered as a period of challenges and uncertainties caused by the pandemic, which threatened mankind with a once-in-a-lifetime predicament. People were forced into isolation as quarantine was imposed on multiple occasions. They learnt to take advantage of connectivity tools that enabled them to study and work from home, access entertainment, shop for essentials, utilise telehealth, and connect virtually with others. At GTPL Hathway, we remained committed to serving our customers by providing them entertainment and information through our cable TV services with unlimited and uninterrupted internet connectivity through our broadband services.

Since broadband service providers were categorized as ‘essential service’ providers, we worked hard to fulfill the exponential increase in demand for new subscriptions as well as to serve existing customers. We followed all Covid-19 guidelines issued by the relevant authorities and took all precautions to protect our employees during the pandemic. We encourage all our employees to get vaccinated and to continue following protocols.

What would you like to advice the emerging generation of young entrepreneurs?

Connectivity is a weapon to win the ‘business game’ in future. Thus, to be connected to the world, internet would be essential. We encourage young entrepreneurs to widen their horizons and grow their businesses worldwide by taking full advantage of the benefits of internet connectivity.

Where do you envision your company/business to be in the long run and what are your future goals? How do you plan to embrace the changes happening in your industry?

We envisage GTPL to emerge as one of the leading broadband service providers in India over the next few quarters considering the aggressive growth plans of PAN India. Our endeavor is to provide the latest and high-quality video products and data services to our consumers. Our technologically advanced fibre optic network, strong trade partnerships, and empathetic customer service will help us in our growth.

Data usage and penetration of Wired Broadband in India is at a mere 6% currently. Considering that there is a huge latent opportunity for internet services, GTPL Broadband is poised to expand aggressively and aims to be one of the leading broadband service providers across India.

What is the current industrial scenario of the internet services space?

The wired broadband penetration has seen steep growth owing to the pandemic related restrictions. As per TRAI performance indicators report released for Janury-March-2021, wired broadband has grown by 16% in the last four quarters to touch a subscriber base of 26 Mn. As compared to the total households in India, wired broadband penetration is still at a meagre 8% presenting a huge opportunity for growth. As per the same report, the wired broadband subscriber base is at a mere 3% of the total of 825 million internet subscribers in India.

While 5G for wireless mobile internet is knocking on the door, competition in wireline fibre broadband internet space is also increasing. Although, penetration of fibre broadband internet is low and an increase in competition is going to expand the overall market size.

Pandemic has brought in a major shift in social and work culture and a new trend of maintaining social and physical distance is getting established, also on one end usage of high-speed broadband is continuously increasing due to OTT, e-commerce, banking, gaming, and everything from home. On the other end, new-age technology like the internet of things (IoT), smart homes, 3D plotting, or real-time streaming is gaining pace, which is good enough to prepone the demand for high-speed broadband internet.

About the Leader

Mr. Aniruddhsinhji Jadeja is the Managing Director of GTPL Hathway Limited with more than 25 years of hands-on experience in the cable TV and broadband internet businesses. He started his career with maninagar network private limited and founded GTPL in 2006. He has been actively driving the expansion of GTPL’s business to a Pan-India scale.

He has been awarded best industrialist of Gujarat by Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Vijay Rupani. He has also been recognized as business leader of the year at the world leadership congress, awards organized by CMO Asia.

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