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Hathway

Hathway – India’s largest Multi System Operator Owned By Reliance Industries.

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In the early days of television, we used to have those antennas and big dishes that would catch the signal for us. But slowly, time went by, and the broadcasting went digital. In India, some major names handled those cable connections, one of them is Hathway. Hathway started from digital TV broadcasting, and today, it is also offering broadband services to its customers. This can be termed as a fairly growth story of a company and must be considered as an inspiring one, as one can only learn from the journey of the company is to grow whatever is the scale of competition is out there. This Indian company is the first cable ISP in India and the first to provide internet using a CATV network in India.

About the Company

Hathway is an over eighty years old company founded in India. Pheroza Billimoria and Roopesh Rao founded the company, establishing its headquarters in Mumbai India. The company offers its services in Cable television, Broadband Internet, Digital voice as well as Home networking. Hathway is a publically traded company and is completely owned by Reliance Industries. It is one of the first companies to provide HDTV services in India, and Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Indore, Kolkata; Gujarat were the first ones to receive this service.
Today, over 11 million people are using the Hathway services in terms of digital TV and broadband/wireless services. In 2018, the company came under the ownership of Reliance Industries as it acquired 51% of the stakes in the company for ₹2,940 crores (US$390 million). In the following years, Reliance acquired the other 49% stakes as well.

Hathway
Image source: www.gizbot.com

The Founding of Hathway

Pheroza Billimoria and Roopesh Rao founded Hathway as Chics Display Services Private Limited in 1959 in Mumbai. The company then had a name change to Hathway Cable & Datacom Private Limited as the shift in the ownership to Business India Television (BITV) Cable Networks Pvt Ltd. The real journey of the company started in 1998 when it was revamped and got launched again as a cable service provider after receiving massive funding from its investors.
In 2000 Hathway also started the broadband internet services on DOCSIS technology, whereas the News Corp acquired a 26% equity in the company paying ₹ 3.4 Bn. The year 2003 was a special year for Hathway as it had reached 2 lakh cable TV subscribers in that year. The next year, the company introduced digital TV services and had acquired over 100,000 internet service subscribers.
The company starting from Mumbai, began to expand to other major cities of the country as well by acquiring the local MSOs, like the Rajesh Multichannel Private Limid (Maharashtra), Gujarat Telelink Private Limited (Gujrat), Bhaskar Multinet Private Limited (Madhya Pradesh), etc.
In the year 2008, Hathway launched the HD PVR boxes and acquired 50% stakes in GTPL. The next year, the company hit the one million subscribers milestone for its digital cable subscriber. The company went public in 2010 and raised ₹4.8 Bn in the IPO. In 2011, the company launched the HDTV service in the major cities of India. Hathway partnered with D-Link Direct Service in 2013 to provide high-speed Wi-fi routers to its customers.
The company also launched its music channel in Bangalore as well as partnered with EROS to launch a movie service in 2014. In 2017, the company spun off its cable TV business to make it a subsidiary company.

The CEO at Hathway

Rajan Gupta is the current CEO and MD of Hathway. Before becoming the CEO of the company, Gupta served Hathway as the President of the Hathway Broadband business and has done quite well for the company. Gupta has more than twenty years of experience handling various leadership roles as he has been a part of companies like Tata Teleservices, Coca-Cola, and Asian Paints.

Charter Communications

Charter Communications – Journey to deliver high-speed broadband service even after lots of obstacles in the way

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An American telecommunication firm, Charter Communications Inc. is a well-known mass media company. It has more than 26 million consumers in almost 41 states in the USA, making it the second-largest cable operator in America. As well as the firm has been recognized as the third-largest pay-TV operator in the country. Apart from that, Charter Communications ranks fifth as the largest telephone provider as per the residential subscriber line count. The journey to achieve this level in business has never been easy for the founders and the firm. Started in 1993, Charter Communications has experienced many hustles and went through lots of controversies. However, the firm proved that with excellent service and continuous efforts, any company can make a stand, despite all odds.

About Charter Communications Inc.

Charter Communications is well-known broadband connectivity and cable operator in the USA. With more than 30 million customers, it is also NASDAQ listed firm. Over the years, the firm has been providing communications and entertainment solutions to personal and commercial users. It also offers multiple services like cable video programming, premium channels, and online video services. Also, it is the ultimate stop for services like telephone services, sports content, internet services, and several others.

Through the spectrum band, Charter Communications has enabled broadband connectivity in 41 states in America. With this spectrum business of charter, communication fulfills the needs of small and medium-sized firms. As well, it provides broadband service and products to large businesses including some government entities also. Moreover, the firm has listed at number 70 in the Fortune 500 list, 2019.

The founders in the limelight

Jerald L. Kent

He is a well-established entrepreneur and businessman in the telecommunication industry. Apart from working at Charter Communications, Kent also served as TierPoint’s CEO. As well, he was the CEO of Cequell III.

Barry Babcock

He was born in Minneapolis and brought up in Oklahoma City. Belonging to a lower-middle-class family, he had to left highschool for some personal reasons. However, he continued education at the University of Oklahoma. When Barry entered the cable industry, he had nothing. In fact, he had to borrow money to invest in Charter Communications.

Howard L. Wood

He is one of the founding members of Charter Communications. As well, he helped in setting Cequel III in 2002. Before that, he served as CEO at Centcom Cable Associates.

The backstory of foundation

Charter Communications
Image Source: deadline.com

The firm has originally started as Charter Communications CATV systems in 1980. However, in 1993, Howard Wood, Barry Babcock, and Jerald Kent made it exceptional under the name Charter Communications Inc. Since then the firm has flourished dramatically which turned out pioneering in the field of the cable industry. Today, it is one of the inseparable parts of the high-tech cable industry.

Growing the business

It was started in the era, where the cable network was started from hilltops and ending at homes. Over the period, this cable business has morphed into a much advance and high-tech cable industry. While Charter Communications also evolved and is in the leading position today. Through several mergers and acquisitions, the firm has time to time to fulfill the requirements of consumers. In fact, to do so, it has done over 10 major acquisitions in the late 20 century. The firm has acquired subscribers from dozens of cable system providers in the USA. Includes, 4 lakh subscribers from InterMedia Partners, and 4 Lakh and 60K subscribers from Interlink communications. Additionally, it acquired leading firms like Renaissance Media Group, Helicon Cable Communications, Vista Broadband Communications, etc.

Charter Communications implemented one more new strategy i.e., swapping customers. To improve geographic clustering the firm has swapped its customers with many leading cable service providers. One such customer exchange was made with AT&T corporation in 1999.

Controversies

The firm received lots of criticism in its history. Even it was listed as worst among 14 major internet service providers by PC World. As per the consumer report 2008, it was marked as the worst of national carriers. As well, the US department of justice investigated the Charter in 2002 for a lawsuit filed against the firm. Several other financial lawsuits have also filed on Charter Communication.

Later Success

Currently, the firm has grown its cable network to more than 7.5 lakh miles, fulfilling the needs of more than 30 million consumers. The vast infrastructure of Charter Communications is now offering faster broadband, which once accused of providing the worst network. As well, it has enabled many other services like voice, telephone, and offers the best customer support. Being the leading broadband connectivity firm, the Charter is providing innovative services with the best customer satisfaction.