Reliance Communications (RCom) announced it will acquire India’s largest cable TV company Digicable, becoming the largest triple play service provider in Asia.
The Indian broadband, wireless and long-haul telco said Thursday it has agreed to acquire pan-Indian cable MSO Digicable in an all-stock deal.
New entity Reliance Digicom, which will house RCom’s DTH, IPTV and retail broadband operations as well as Digicable, will have an estimated value of $1 billion, saidIndian Television.
RCom’s stake in Reliance Digicom was not disclosed, but the Economic Timesearlier put this at 60%, with Digicom investors –including private equity firm Ashmore – to hold the remaining interest.
Reliance Digicom will be “Asia’s largest and the world’s fifth largest company to offer the full-suite of triple play services – digital TV, ultra high-speed broadband and voice,” the company said.
The new unit would have “a combined subscriber base” of 11 million.
RCom plans to offer over 500 digital and 100 HD channels across its DTH, cable, IPTV and HITS platforms, as well as internet on TV, 3D-TV, VOD and interactive gaming services.
The group’s Metro Ethernet and digital cable networks will offer speeds of up to 100Mbps which is “significantly ahead of all proven wireless, Wimax and broadband wireless access technologies.”
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