GTPL Hathway Ltd (NSE: GTPL) Q4 2025 Earnings Call dated Apr. 17, 2025
Corporate Participants:
Anirudhsinh Jadeja — Managing Director
Piyush Pankaj — Head of CATV Business and Chief Strategy Officer
Saurav Banerjee — Chief Financial Officer
Analysts:
Mohit Dodeja — Analyst
Unidentified Participant
Saket Kapoor — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the GTPL Hathway Conference Call hosted by Emkay Global Financial Services Limited.
As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing the star then zero on your touchstone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr Mohit Doreja, Emkay Global Financial Services Limited.
Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Mohit Dodeja — Analyst
Good evening, everyone. I would like to welcome the management and thank them for this opportunity. We have with us today Mr Anirud Singh Jadeja, Promoter and Managing Director; Mr Piyush Pankaj, Business Head, B2B and Chief Strategy Officer; and Mr Saurav Banerjee, Chief Financial Officer.
I shall now hand over the call to Mr Anirat Sing for his opening remarks. Over to you, sir.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja — Managing Director
Thank you. Good evening, everyone. A warm welcome to everybody to the earnings call of GTPL Hathway to discuss financial performance of quarter-four FY ’25. We retained our position as the nation’s largest MSO and are rapidly gaining ground as a significant player in the evolving fixed broadband market. Our business segments, cable, TV and broadband continue to report stable financial and business performance. Over the past financial year, we have been focused on launching consumer-centering products and services with a singular aim of providing better and complete viewing experience for our customers. In-line with our consistent dividend-paying policy for the financial year FY ’25, the Board of Directors have recommended a dividend of 20% of face value INR2 per share. I now hand over the call to Mr Pankaj, who will take you through the KPI for the cable TV and broadband segment as well as highlights our efforts throughout the year. Piyush.
Piyush Pankaj — Head of CATV Business and Chief Strategy Officer
Thanks, Mr Jadeja. Good evening, everyone. The usual KPIs for the — both the businesses are as follows: first, cable TV segment; our digital cable TV subscriber base as on 31st March 2025 stood at 9.60 million. Among the total subscriber base, paying subscribers stood at 8.90 million. On an annual basis, the increase in both active and paying subscriber is 100K respectively. In the broadband business, active subscriber base at the end-of-the quarter stood at 1045,1045 million, adding 25K new subscriber, which is an increase of 2% on a Y-o-Y basis. Home pass stood at 5.95 million as of 31st March 2025, of which 75% are available for MTX, Home Pass grew by 2.5% on an annual basis, registering an increase of 150K on an absolute basis. The broadband ARPU for quarter-four FY ’25 stood at INR465, increased by INR5 as compared to FY ’24. Average data consumption per month stood at 396 GB and 11% increase Y-o-Y. We are pleased to share that we have been awarded with the much-anticipated hist license, enabling us to operate and maintain His services for a period of 10 years.
We will share more details on the Hitch license and its accrued benefit once it is optionalizes. However, I want to share that this new broadcasting mechanism will bring in significant efficiencies in terms of cost and reach going-forward. We constantly keep evaluating options for either organic or inorganic avenues for growth. We continue with our expansion plan in other states across India and want to increase our total addressable market. Broadband business will also continue to see rise in the subscriber count with our strong standing relationships and network of LCOs and B2B partners and with the wide broadband penetration. Overall, our focus remains on efficiency, consumer acquisition and retention, driven by value-accretive products and services, leveraging technology and judicious use of our financial resources.
I will now hand over the call to Mr Saurabh, CFO, who will take you through the financial performance of the company.
Saurav Banerjee — Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Mr Piyush, and good evening to all participants. On a consolidated basis for the quarter, total revenue grew by a healthy 10% Y-o-Y to INR8989 million. Subscription revenue stood at INR2982 million and the broadband revenue grew by 4% Y-o-Y, standing at INR1358 million. Consolidated reported EBITDA stood at INR1144 million at an EBITDA margin of 12.7%. Operating EBITDA for the quarter was INR1021 million with a margin of 22%. Net profit attributable to the parent stood at INR105 million. Consolidated figures for FY ’25 stood as follows: total revenue grew by 8% annually to INR35072 million. Consolidated reported EBITDA stood at INR4625 million at an EBITDA margin of 13.2%. Operating EBITDA for FY ’25 was INR4.63 million with a margin of 22%. Net profit attributable to the parent was INR479 million.
On a standalone basis for the quarter, total revenue grew by 10% Y-o-Y and 1% Q-on-Q to INR5693 million. Standalone reported EBITDA for the quarter was INR663 million at a margin of 11.7%. Operating EBITDA for the quarter was INR580 million, thus implying a margin of 23%. Net profit stood at INR80 million. Standalone figures for FY ’25 stood as following. Total revenue grew by 8% annually to INR, triple to INR30 million. Reported EBITDA stood at INR2658 million at an EBITDA margin of 12%. Operating EBITDA for FY ’25 was INR2296 million at a margin of 23%. Net profit for the period was INR477 million.
I would now request the moderator to open the floor for the Q&A session.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star N1 on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star N2. Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Varun Mishra from AS Group. Please go-ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hello. Hi, sir. Am I audible?
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
Yeah, yeah. Please.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah. Hi, thank you. So I had a couple of questions. Firstly, starting with could you comment something about the recent ongoing development on the national broadband machine 2.0?
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
Broadband mission.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
That is you are talking about the project.
Unidentified Participant
Yes, sir.
Piyush Pankaj
Yeah. So project, I think for..
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
I think within a 15 days or within a month, 30 days will get — we’ll get APO from this Bharatnite per project it for Hayana and any other one with partner with NC infra.
Piyush Pankaj
So we have we have participated in project with LC Infra and we are hoping that we are going to get the Alvin with LC in LC within 30 or 45 days. Okay. Once we will announce it.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah. Okay, all right. And my next question is, how do the like the government initiatives which has been taken regarding the broadband segment? So how do you feel this like this will help us with the expansions like in future.
Piyush Pankaj
We are very happy that government has started taking steps again to make the digital infrastructure, mainly the broadband infrastructure in every states and in the early Phase-1 and Phase-2 situation, this project is, you can say, not totally completed and the implementation has not happened on that level. So now having the new for all the 15 states, 16 states and even the states which are the independent, they are taking their steps. So this all are going to help the broadband infrastructure in the country and it is going to help us the player like us who is — depending upon the infrastructures created by third-parties and the infrastructure created by us.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, sir, all right. And sir, like have we received any orders from any government agencies for the same?
Piyush Pankaj
No, not now. We have.
Unidentified Participant
You know, as of now, we haven’t.
Piyush Pankaj
The orders are in the pipeline and once we will get the order, we will go for the PR and giving the information in the. For the — for the — with the LC infra also as the papers are not there, but we will announce it once it is going to come in our role.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah. Okay, so that’s all from my side. Thank you, sir, all the best.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Javi from Crown Capital. Please go-ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hello. Good evening, sir. Thank you so much for taking my question. Firstly, congratulations on a great set of results. Hope I’m audible. Thank you.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
Yeah, yeah,, please go-ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah, yeah. Hi, sir. So sir, just wanted to get a bit of an idea how do we see FY ’26 panning out or any kind of revenue guidance and margin guidance? Or do we see it as that…
Piyush Pankaj
See, we are looking-forward that we will do better subscriber addition in FY ’26 in both the business segments as we are changing the business structure also or you can say the delivery of how you’re going to deliver your signals in the market. In the broadband also, we are seeing that how we can expand more-and-more in the number of states plus how we deeply penetrate in Gujarat. So we are looking-forward that we are going to do better than what we did in FY ’25 in the numbers and same will reflect in our revenue and EBITDA. The — we are doing somewhere — if you see the last eight years, we are doing the revenue at 18% CAGR and EBITDA at 9% CAGR, we want to come back to that level in FY ’26 that we do 18% of revenue at least and 9% of the EBITDA CAGR. So that’s the target which we are working on.
Unidentified Participant
So we’re saying 18% growth in revenue and in terms of EBITDA, I didn’t get you, sir. Sorry.
Piyush Pankaj
Yeah, yeah. If you see the last eight years in eight years now CAGR is 18% in the revenue and 9% in EBITDA, we want to come back to that CAGR again.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, okay. So sir, just wanted to know like previously we’ve done higher — we’ve done 14%, 15% EBITDA, sometimes it’s also going to 20%. So in terms of EBITDA, what is like — what’s going to be a steady-state like I think in the last two H1, H1 we did around 13%, H2, we are around 12%. So what kind of margin you know on a steady-state basis can we expect, sir?
Piyush Pankaj
So see you have to — if you want to look for the operational EBITDA, you have to look for the slides on operational slide, operational analysis slide, which is given in our investor presentation where you will see that we are doing at an EBITDA level of 22% to 23%. So we are going to maintain that. We did 24% last year and this year it is 23% 22%. We want to maintain and keep the EBITDA in that range, operational EBITDA in that range..
Unidentified Participant
Okay, okay. Fair enough, sir. And sir, just wanted to know like currently on-the-ground, like how are we seeing the demand like for both cable and broadband, like you know, a lot of people are — like the cable growth has been good for us, but then is there some resistance like a lot of people want to just be able to watch it by internet or so just wanted to ask on-the-ground demand, how are we seeing?
Piyush Pankaj
See the demand for entertainment is there throughout. It depends that customers are delivery agnostic. They want the content to be delivered at their home effortlessly. That’s what we are doing right now. So the demand for entertainment is maintained. The thing is that, yeah, how you can in this challenging industry, how you will transform yourself and you make the bundles in such a way that we provide what customers need and that’s what we are doing from last three to four years as after the COVID and we will continue to do so. So the demands are there and we want to capitalize that.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. Okay. Fair enough, sir. That’s it from my side, sir. Thank you all the best.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
Sure. Sure.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sahil Vora from MNS Associates. Please go-ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hi, good afternoon. Am I audible? Yes, sir. Please go-ahead. Thank you. My first question is, sir, during the last quarter, we spoke about broadcasters taking a price rise. Just wanting to understand if we were able to pass-on the price hikes on our customers.
Piyush Pankaj
Yes, you’re right. The broadcasters are taking the price up a bit. But yes, we are — we are seeing that how we can accommodate that and how we can pass very small cost to the customer side. As you know, customer is — the market is still. So we have to see that how we can absorb those costs in our whole delivery system and pass a very small cost towards the customers. So that’s going on. We are going to implement that in this quarter one and in the market.
Unidentified Participant
So okay. And sir, have you seen any adverse impact of the same on our subscriber addition?
Piyush Pankaj
No, we have not seen actually the subscriber surge has happened from the last week of March after the start of IPL and the — in the Damadan period. And we are very happy with the surge which is showing and again, the customers are coming back into the and the interest is coming back. So no, we have not seen any depriation because of the content cost increase at all.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
But basically the consumer side, we are not mostly increasing. We are — this is understanding between MSO and LCO, which LCO and MSO put together, we put together observe that cost.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, understood. Sir, my second question is, in the current year, we saw only a small increase in our subscriber base in cable TV. The pace of customer addition has dropped off from 0.5 million to about 1 lakh now. Sir, what are the potential reasons for the same? And did the competition increase, particularly during FY ’25 or was some other factors at play?
Piyush Pankaj
No, industry witnessed higher churn during FY ’25 as the invent of expansion of different content providers in the industry, including telcos, new OTT players and social media side. We have seen that this year is particularly a bit challenging as you can see new content provider, regional content provider has emerged in the country. But yes, we have seen that for the two quarters only that as quarter two and quarter three. From quarter-four onwards, we have again seen that the market has neutralized, the churn has neutralized and everything has again came back to the same. But due to that two quarters somewhere the churn has increased by 2% to 3% and that’s why instead of 0.5 million, we have added just 100K subscriber base in this year. But we are hopeful that the next year again, we will come to at the same level of more than 0.5 million addition in the quarter.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. That’s promising, sir. And similarly, I had a question in the broad — for the broadband business. Sir, I was of the opinion that maybe price hikes undertaken by all the major players would have provided a flip to subscribers to explore fixed-line broadband. In this context, what are the potential reasons for a relatively slower-growth in broadband business as well. Is there crowding out due to competition from other telcos or is the B2B part yet to take-off meaningfully?
Piyush Pankaj
Both the reasons are there because the telcos has increased their offerings in the market. If you see, due to the invent of Advent of 5G, they have come with the clear fiber, which is, you can say that still providing mills, whatever quality and all, we will not talk about that, but that has given a eupuria in the market for the short-term. And suddenly for around four to five months, that has ate up the additions for everyone. I’m not talking about just — I’m talking about the whole industry. And so that euphoria is over now. So we are hopeful that because of the increase in the data prices by the telcos will start helping us in the wide broadband.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
Especially mobility data.
Piyush Pankaj
Mobility data. So that will start helping and giving us though. But because of this euphoria, we have not seen any movement in this financial year, but we are hopeful that we can say that already we have started seeing some of the movements on the wired side and the positive side.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, sir. Thank you so much. That’s it from my end. And all the best. Thank you.
Operator
Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Saket Kapoor from Kapoor & Company. Please go-ahead.
Saket Kapoor
Sir, thank you for this opportunity. Sir, firstly, if we look into this, our headed — head-end in the Skype, the broadband — broadcasting services, are they in sync with what Starlink and others will be offering or are their offerings? Are they connected in some way to the same and hence the timing also or are they different altogether.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
No, it’s totally different, okay. Okay, because for the delivery system for the entertainment, which is like cable TV or you can say that TV broadcasting that delivery of that. And the StarLinks are more on the Internet side. That’s the satellite internet. So both are totally different. Yeah. Both are through satellite, but that is for the Internet services and this is for the entertainment services.
Piyush Pankaj
And that is for the — for B2C customer, this is for the B2B customer. That’s right.
Saket Kapoor
Sir, when we look at our financials on a yearly basis, what explains this dip in PBT, sir, were there any regrouping of line items or if you could just give us some understanding, especially for last year March quarter versus this March quarter, I think so there was any one-off item, how should one read into the yearly numbers and the downward trend, which we have seen on an annual basis.
Piyush Pankaj
See, few things we have to see that one is that there is a dip in the subscription income by INR28 crores annually and that is because of we have added 100 k subscribers during the financial year with the deeper penetration in existing markets or we have entered into the new markets. But as the company enters new market, we have to keep competitive ways and give attractive scheme and which ultimately impact the overall ARPU. And the same has resulted in growing of revenue by 2%, INR28 crores. Plus you can see that there is an increase in depreciation and finance cost, a bit of finance cost and that resulted in having a negative, you can say, decrease in the PBP. Yeah. This all we are countering it because our revenue will go up as we have just added INR100K, but we are again we will come back to adding more than 0.5 million and we will see that the ramp-in the revenue same will see that the depreciation is going to be at constant or a bit of increase of that, which will be covered by the increase in the revenue. So we are looking-forward that we will come back again back to the same PBT level which is there in the hands.
Saket Kapoor
Sir, if we take the numbers just on a constant like-for-like basis, INR151 crore is what we posted, correct me there. And this year it is INR64 crores. So the difference is to the tune of INR80 crore INR87 crore. You did explain about INR30 — some INR28 crore and some depreciation impact. But over top of that also, I think so if there is something more which I’m missing kindly addressed the same. And also on the ECL part, I can — we can see that the expected credit-loss also last year was INR82 million-odd crores after crore Karnapuray. So if you could just explain these two impacts? And third question is about the capex part. I think so we have spent another investor rather another INR380 crore INR18 odd crores in this year. If you could just explain us the nature of where the main money — where the money has been invested into which areas that would suffer.
Piyush Pankaj
See, at the EBITDA level, if you see, we have lost around INR50 crores at the EBITDA level from INR511 crore, we have come down to INR462. The main reason is the subscription income, which is down by INR28 crores and some of the infrastructure costs which we have incurred. So that’s why the other operating expense have gone up a bit. We have contained our employee costs and if you see the net pay channel cost and all, it is at the line. And if you come to the next slide, which is the analysis on operating margin, we will see that from 450, we have from operating EBITDA is down from INR460 crores to INR416 crores. That is somewhere around INR45 crores we lost over there. Apart from that, if you see there is a 9% increase in the depreciation from INR337 crores, we have gone to crores, which is an increase of INR31 crores. So this INR50 plus INR31 crore, if we will see, this is INR80 crore and which is coming into that in the PBT, this INR80 crores. What we are going to counter in this way is that this INR50 crore we are going to get back more than INR50 crore we are going to get back-in the EBITDA side. We are hoping and we are working towards that. Plus somewhere depreciation and amortization is going to be at the bit higher-level, but not at this high-level. So again, we’ll come back to the same PBT level or at least somewhere close to that PBT level. That’s the target on which we are working towards. So if you see the operating margin, operating EBITDA percentage, we are still maintaining at 22% to 23%. And again we will come back to that 24% to 25% EBITDA margin with the time.
Saket Kapoor
Sir on the capex in the ECL part.
Piyush Pankaj
Yeah CapEx, yeah, this year, we did around we did the INR355 crore of capex. Out of that, INR230 crore of capex is the CATV and INR125 crore capex is the. And last one what you’ve asked…
Saket Kapoor
Is the expected credit-loss that has gone up from INR8 crores to INR15.5 crores.
Piyush Pankaj
Totally on the account of broadcasters. If you talk about the trade payables movement, which is of around INR209 crores, if you see, up from INR715 crores, we have gone to INR924 crores. Out of this INR209 crores, INR213 crores is of broadcaster only. That’s the increase. And same is the trade receivables side, if you see, it has gone from INR437 crores to INR58 crores, which is INR151 crores and out of that around INR138 crores, INR139 crore is from the broadcasters only. So that’s the way it has gone. So broadcasters, as you know that they are increasing the prices, new tariffs are coming and everything is happening. So somewhere in the negotiations, still the movement is like this.
Saket Kapoor
Sir, last point on the on the broadband part and the penetration part also. Sir, going ahead, do we find OF being the only way out wherein the broadband penetration is to increase or as you mentioned about the air fiber and the other Wi-Fi devices being the new aid of going into the Inter lens or the area where fiber deployment is not there. Just want to understand how is the broadband penetration going to increase going ahead? And how much — I think sir, also we have heard that telcos have also not doing the regular capex in terms of the refurbishment is for the capex for the OF part. So where are we, sir, in terms of optical fiber cables, the expenditure on the same in terms of the broadband penetration going ahead.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
So see the — basically I’ve into three type of technology. One is the via satellite through internet, other is the air fiber through Internet and one is the FTTH fiber-to-the-home technology, right? Is that the best solution and proven solution is the FTTH and cost-effective solution over the line and with durability, with good Internet speeds. So if you ask me, it’s a — I don’t think any wireless technology can beat wire technology. So this is the best solution if you ask me.
Piyush Pankaj
See, in India, all top — all type of technologies will preval, but the mass will go for FTTH in the long-term. That’s our view.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
Because of the data.
Piyush Pankaj
Yeah, because the data consumption, because of the durability, because as India will move towards more-and-more digital, the consistency and capability, you could say that’s the — that is going to require. And that is — that has to be given by the FTTH only.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
So Jessee mobility data price hike, Change, 100% wireline, FTTH, wireline broadband will grow.
Piyush Pankaj
See, sir, Hamik, it’s my capex number this year. Just on the optic fiber cable deployment here to cable some used customers. Yes, how many cables of optic fiber megab I to last month, INR300 crore INR400 crores we invested in optic fiber, almost more than 1 lakh kilometers infrastructures we laid in August and almost more than six to 6.5 we created. Number, you seek average is that average because see the up last six years with, with cable and broadband, we have invested somewhere around INR2,500 crores INR2,700 crores in the market. Out of that 50% has gone into the broadband, 50% has gone into the cable. So cable may be of 50% of broadband may approval, the 50% has gone for the OFC out of that. So somewhere around INR500 crore, INR600 crore in last four years has gone into the OFC.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
And replacement demand me that see is a large point and joined the. How much would be the replacement in terms of the and tier of cable, Johame, just keep the investment demand, if you ask me, I don’t think there is a replacement demand a retire. It’s very rare case. I think it’s not less than 1%, I don’t think.
Saket Kapoor
Thank you, sir, and all the best. Good.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Marun Mishra from AS Group. Please go-ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hi, sir. Actually, I had some questions. So like as we have been expanding in the broadband segment, what revenue potential do we foresee like in the future?
Piyush Pankaj
So if you see in the if you see in the broadband the broadband revenue we have at around INR545 crores, which we’ve made in FY ’25 and the CAGR is somewhere around 17% in that from last four years. So we are going to maintain that. There is a 4% jump-in this year, but we are looking-forward that we’ll come back to the double figures very soon on this.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, sir. And like through the mission, which has been initiated by the government which wants to reach the remaining 170,000 like odd villages in India like which don’t have Internet connection as of now. So like do we see an opportunity expanding over there, there like there might be the competitors too trying to enter that segment. So how do you see that?
Piyush Pankaj
Yeah. So basically,,, this is a grand Punchat or rulers broadband fiber penetrations Bodega, Utna, Hamarelli potentials or benefit from last mile consumer ruler labor gramp and, infrastructures. Government infrastructures service or very cheap cost because Archkal, Jobi, Project May Government Fiber be allot to cost-effective price with. So Uske Base, it’s good potential Jagape, Gujaratme, government, Kia, Infrastructure score revenue-sharing base pay, Joa implement government, go understanding MOUB understanding signed. Okay, sir. So like only we are planning — like how are we planning to expand this like core pan-India or specifically targeting some states? So right now, the Gujarat model is very completely very stable and good 98%, they are maintaining SLA, especially the JF general project and all, and almost more than 15,000 villages has covered this entire. So yes, we are going to start with Gujarat,
Unidentified Participant
15, 16 states may own KGO projects complete a or down the line, development, other state may be Jay sir. And like do we expect any good potential amount of capex while expanding in these small villages because the majorly backbone invested completely government, the last mile capex for site, Sira? Oh, alright, sir. That’s all from my side, sir. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Yash Mathave from Cruise Capital. Please go-ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hello. Yeah, yeah. Hi, sir. In the previous quarter, we had discussed about Bharat next three project. I just wanted some clarity on that. And you had mentioned about some litigation issue happening currently.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
No, no, there is no litigations happening in currently right now.
Unidentified Participant
Ana Bake expected 30 to 45 days and then APO okay, sir. And my second question is, can you help me understand the operational and strategic process when scouting and entering a new state? You know, given we may not have our existing setup of cable operators.
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
In the sector box right now though because it’s a completely all-India — the India is a DAS market digital addressable system. So everywhere sector box is there.
Piyush Pankaj
So we are already in 26 states, if you see expanded. So already 26 states from our base one. If you see the whole northwest, all seven states we are now there, plus we are just not in Jammu, Punjab, Kerala and and otherwise we are everywhere now in all 26 states.
Unidentified Participant
And sir, my last question is, when we add new customers now, would we be adding them at a lower-margin since our services are — we are providing services at a lower-cost than the main competition?
Piyush Pankaj
See, whenever you are entering a new market, yes, you have to go for a bit lower-price of not the lower-price but attractive schemes and all, which lowered your ARPU a bit and you make it consistent after some time. So yes, when you intend there is a cost which you incur as acquisition cost or going into that market and then you make it equal to your general ARPU.
Unidentified Participant
Got it, sir. Thank you so much.
Operator
Thank you. A reminder to all participants that you may press star and 1 to ask a question. Participants who wish to ask a question to the management may press star and one. The next question is from the line of Ram from Stay PMS. Please go-ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hello, sir. Hi. Sir, my first question is on the subscription income. So it has been experiencing a decrease for multiple quarters now. So what is contributing towards the same? I believe the sequential basis, it has moderated, but it has been decreasing for multiple quarters now. So can you please help us enlighten us on this?
Piyush Pankaj
See, if you go for the standalone from the last eight quarters, if you see from the last year, it has increased. It has gone up to quarterly base, I’m talking about the standalone. It has gone up to INR225 crores for the quarter, which was at INR2086, INR205 crores last year. First two quarters also, if you see this financial year ’25, that is we added INR225 crores and INR221 crores. From 3rd-quarter, we have come down to level of INR210 crores INR211 crores. That’s what we explained earlier that two quarters which is July to September and then October to December was bad for the whole industry and the churn rate has gone up on those period. And because of that, you will see that with the whole year we have just added 100K more subscriber, which we were expecting to add more than 0.5 million. So yes, you’re right that last year, it had started showing the increase from INR206 crores INR207 crores a quarter, it has gone up to INR25 and — but again, it has got muted down and we are at around INR200 crores INR209 crores in the standalone I’m talking about. Overall also, if you see the same trend which is happening in the console also. But we are hopeful that as I said that from March onwards, mid-March onwards as the advent of IPL and the end of Holy period, we have started seeing the — again, the increase in the subscriber base and the revenues. So we are hopeful that we are going to go into the green site in the subscription revenue.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. So my follow-up was on the IPL only. So you are seeing an increase in the subscriber base and the revenue till now?
Piyush Pankaj
Yes.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. And sir, with regards to your placement carriage marketing incentive, do we as a company benefit from higher advertisement spent or is linked to price charged by broadcasting channels?
Piyush Pankaj
The advertisement income includes both, but yes partially it is linked with the broadcasting pre-channels, partially it is with the free podcasters and partially it is our advertisement revenue, which we earn for our local — local operating channels. So all three are today.
Unidentified Participant
And a couple of questions on the financial part. So for reason for sudden jump-in the activation income, the earlier guidance was it would start diminishing over a period of time?
Piyush Pankaj
But diminist active — activation revenue has diminished gone down only from — if you see from 17.4%, it has gone towards. We’re talking about quarter three to quarter-four quarter-four from 3.3 to 4.4%, that’s the abrupt one because that is one of the accounting you can say because of that it has come. Otherwise, if you see the year-to-year, it is going down in the consolidated also in the standalone also.
Unidentified Participant
Got it. And sir, below the EBITDA, interest cost has risen by 29% year-on-year and we have gradually seen net-debt negative position turn to a minor debt positive one. So how — how should we look at debt and when do we revert back to the net-debt negative position?
Piyush Pankaj
Yeah. As you understand that we are going into the new platform. We are headed in the high and we are doing the capex on it. This is the — one of the situations right now as we are in the middle of implementing that. Once that implementation will come and the effect of those will start showing in the business, again, we’ll come back to net-debt position. So that’s the way because, yes, we are doing the whole investments through internal accruals and through some of the working capitals, which we are utilizing working capitals and all, which we are utilizing. But those levels will go down with the time as the capex ended and this business will start coming the benefits means.
Unidentified Participant
Okay. And sir, just a last question. Sir, in your investor presentation, it mentions a sharp rise in average data consumption for this quarter. Do we experience higher associated cost when data usage by consumer rise?
Piyush Pankaj
It is not proportional you can say a bit yes but not proportion as we use the technology of pairing and crushing and all so with the utilization, your cost do not increase up to 11%. But yes, if it has gone up to a process a bit, then you have to deploy some of the cost on that. But it is not proportionate. It is very minimal, you can see the increase because you are using the catching or pairing technologies and utilizing the bandwidth in a better way.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you, sir, for the helpful insights. All the wish. Thanks, sir.
Operator
Thank you. A reminder to all participants that you may press star and 1 to ask a question thank you. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for their closing comments. Thanks. I would like to express my thanks to every participant who took their time-out to attend the call. I would like to thank MK for organizing this call. For any queries, please free-to contact with Orient Capital, who are our Investor Relations advisors. Thank you and have a good day you. On behalf of Emkay Global Financial Services Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.