Hathway Digital said it has started rolling out fiber-to-the-home services in congested areas, and also reported a strong increase in data use after slashing prices and increase quotas.
For the three months ended September, an average consumer on Hathway Broadband increased her consumption to 98 GB per month, or 3.2 GB per day, from 78 GB per month three months earlier.
This was due to a decision by the company to increase average speeds of its plans by 50% and the data allocation in plans by 200%, ahead of the launch JioFiber fiber to home services by Reliance Jio.
Compared to an average of 40 Mbps speed for its users in Apr-Jun period, the average speed enjoyed by Hathway broadband customers increased to 60 Mbps in the three months from July to September, the company said.
Similarly, it now offers at least 200 GB per month of data even on its cheapest plans, the company said.
Most consumers are on higher plans, it added.
“45% of our consumers have monthly data limits of 1,000 GB,” it said.
NETWORK UPGRADE
The company, which has about 7 lakh broadband users, said it has started rolling out Gigabit Passive Optical Network or GPON fiber to the home (FTTH) service in high-demand areas.
In others, it is upgrading cable broadband from DocSis 3.0 to 3.1 in other areas.
“GPON FTTH Parallel network being deployed in High Potential High Penetrated Docsis home passes,” it said.
Unlike DocSis, FTTH takes the cable right to the customer’s home, instead of ending it on the street.
Using DocSis 3.1, the company offers speeds of up to 200 Mbps. With FTTH, it will offer plans with speeds of 200-500 Mbps, it said.
The company is using solutions from ZTE and Alcatel-Lucent for its FTTH service.
It also said that it is offering 1 TB of cloud storage to anyone who signs up for any of its yearly package.
Hathway is one of the most vulnerable companies in India from the upcoming launch of Reliance Jio’s JioFiber FTTH services. The service is likely to bundle IPTV services that allow users to rewind live TV programs on their using their TV remote controllers.