Hathway Cable & Datacom is India’s first cable company to also become a broadband provider, and today it delivers wired internet and digital cable TV to millions of homes as part of the Reliance group. It started as a traditional cable distributor and then pioneered high-speed fibre-to-the-home services in the country, a move that reshaped its entire business. The recurring approach is to use its street-level cable network and local operator relationships to sell two services-TV and broadband-into the same household, often over the same fibre. # Business segments Two engines built on the same fibre backbone-a broadband internet business that is the company’s growth platform, and a cable television business that remains its largest reach driver, both distributed through a shared network of local cable operators. ## 1. Broadband: the growth engine built on fibre-to-the-home **The company sells unlimited high-speed internet directly to homes and offices over a fibre network it has been laying for over a decade, and it now counts more than a million subscribers.** - **Unlimited data as the standard** - every broadband plan comes with no data caps, throttling, or surprise charges, which the company calls a key differentiator in a market where competitors often meter usage. Average monthly consumption per fibre customer has climbed to 357 GB, roughly the equivalent of streaming over a hundred hours of high-definition video. - **First-mover in fibre technology** - it was the first Indian cable operator to launch GPON FTTH (Gigabit Passive Optical Network Fibre-to-the-Home), a technology that delivers speeds up to 1 Gbps without needing powered equipment in the field, making the network both faster and more energy-efficient than older cable-based systems. The company is actively migrating customers from its legacy DOCSIS (coaxial-cable) network to this newer fibre standard. - **A network that reaches the doorstep** - the company has strung roughly 85,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable across the country, passing 6.3 million homes, of which about 1.06 million are active subscribers. It operates in 22 cities, with the deepest presence in four major metros and three mini-metros. - **AI handles the front line** - an industry-first AI voicebot fields calls, a chatbot resolves 73% of queries on the first try through web and WhatsApp, and an internal AI troubleshooting bot cleared over 22,000 issues in a single quarter, helping the company hit a 96% customer satisfaction score. 72% of new fibre customers are activated the same day they sign up, using a self-scheduled installation model. - **Reliance’s backbone underneath** - the broadband business rides on the fibre infrastructure of Reliance Jio Infocomm, giving it access to a national-scale backbone without having to build every kilometre itself. ## 2. Cable television: the mass-reach business run through local partners **Through its subsidiary Hathway Digital, the company beams digital cable TV to nearly five million viewers, relying almost entirely on a network of local cable operators who own the last-mile customer relationship.** - **A top-two player in most big cities** - Hathway Digital is one of India’s largest multi-system operators, with a strong presence in all major metros and mini-metros where it typically holds a top-two market position, even as many rival cable operators have lost ground to satellite TV and streaming. - **Local cable operators are the sales force** - more than 90% of cable TV subscribers are served through local cable operators, or LCOs, who bundle, sell, and collect payments. The company supports them with a dedicated online portal called Hathway Connect, a QR-code payment system that credits LCO bank accounts directly, and even an accident insurance policy that covers LCOs and their key employees. - **Hybrid boxes bridge TV and streaming** - the company has seeded next-generation set-top boxes that combine traditional cable channels with the ability to cast OTT apps onto the television screen, so a viewer can watch both linear TV and streaming video from a single device without buying a separate streaming dongle. - **A network built for reliability** - seven main headends and roughly 38,000 kilometres of fibre feed signals to over 700 towns, with redundancy built into key optical transmission points so that a single cut does not knock out service. The company has also been upgrading its conditional access system-the encryption that ensures only paying customers can watch-to a newer, more secure standard. - **Regulatory shifts shape the playing field** - a recent rule change that bars pay channels from being given away free on the government’s DD Free Dish platform has removed a source of unfair competition, while the new tariff order (NTO 4.0) continues to reshape how channels are packaged and priced. # Group structure and partners **The company is a subsidiary of the Reliance MDA Group, which provides the fibre backbone and set-top-box branding that underpin both businesses, while a web of subsidiaries and an associate extend its reach into specific geographies.** - Reliance Industries Limited and its affiliated entities control the company, and the broadband business runs on the fibre infrastructure of Reliance Jio Infocomm. The cable TV arm uses Jio-branded high-definition set-top boxes and Jio’s fibre backend. - Hathway Digital Limited is the wholly-owned subsidiary that houses the entire cable television operation; five smaller step-down subsidiaries were merged into it in April 2025 to simplify the corporate structure. - GTPL Hathway Limited, in which the company holds a 37% stake, is India’s largest MSO by market share-commanding roughly two-thirds of the Gujarat cable market and a quarter of West Bengal-and delivers both TV and broadband in territories where Hathway does not operate directly. - The company has actively pruned its subsidiary portfolio, selling multiple non-operating local cable entities and acquiring full ownership of others, including the buyout of the remaining 49% of Hathway Channel 5 Cable and Datacom in April 2026.