Telecom Infra
Netflix crosses $100 billion market capitalisation as subscribers surge
Netflix Inc snagged 2 million more subscribers than Wall Street expected in the final three months of 2017, tripling profits at the online video service that is burning money on new programming to dominate internet television around the world.
The results drove Netflix to a market capitalisation of more than $100 billion for the first time. Shares jumped 9 percent to over $248 in after-hours trading on Monday after rallying throughout the month and rising 53 percent last year. (http://tmsnrt.rs/1Ry82wG)
The company has signed up more than half of all U.S. broadband households and is building its customer base in 190 countries by spending billions on programming.
Netflix picked up 6.36 million subscribers in international markets from October through December, when it released new seasons of critically acclaimed shows “Stranger Things” and “The Crown” as well as Will Smith action movie “Bright.” That topped Wall Street expectations of 5.1 million, according to FactSet.
Along with 1.98 million customer additions in the United States, the company ended the year with 117.58 million streaming subscribers around the globe, despite a price hike in October.
“Netflix is pouring more and more money into making content, and it is directly translating into more subscribers,” BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said. “They see a huge opportunity and they are moving as fast as they can to attack it.”
The company also said it took a $39 million non-cash charge for “unreleased content we’ve decided not to move forward with.” A source familiar with the matter said the charge was related to content starring Kevin Spacey, with whom Netflix cut ties after he was accused of sexual misconduct.
Netflix temporarily halted production of “House of Cards” to write out Spacey’s character and decided not to release the film “Gore,” which starred Spacey as Gore Vidal.
Spacey has apologised to one of his accusers, and according to his representatives is seeking unspecified treatment. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the accusations.
The charge is one of the first signs of costs faced by companies in the wake of a widespread campaign against sexual harassment.
Netflix turned a DVD-by-mail business into an online competitor of movie channel HBO. As it grew it began licensing its own original shows to ensure a stream of new offerings if studio suppliers ended deals.
In fact, Walt Disney Co is making a major push into online streaming and will pull its first-run shows and movies from Netflix in 2019 as Hollywood fights for audiences.
Netflix plans to spend up to $8 billion this year on TV shows and movies to fend off Disney, Amazon.com Inc , studios-owned Hulu and local competitors that are jumping into online video, and it is turning more and more to high-budget projects, such as the roughly $90 million “Bright.”
In 2017, Netflix recorded its first full-year profit in international markets. The company has said it is aiming for steady improvements in profitability overseas this year.
“We believe our big investments in content are paying off,” Netflix said in a quarterly letter to shareholders.
Netflix is raising its marketing budget faster than revenue is growing and will spend about $2 billion this year. The company expects negative cash flow in 2018 of $3 billion to $4 billion, up from $2 billion in 2017.
Last October, Netflix raised prices for two of its three main subscription plans to help fund the substantial content investment. The earnings report showed customers took it in stride.
“Consumers are tolerant as long as something’s improving,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, on a post-earnings webcast, said of the price increase.
For the December quarter, Netflix reported diluted earnings-per-share of 41 cents, even with the expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue for the three months totalled $3.286 billion, in line with forecasts.
Looking ahead, Netflix forecast streaming customer additions of 6.35 million for the first quarter, above analysts’ expectation of 5.01 million, according to FactSet.
Investors appear confident in Netflix’s ability to grow. Netflix recently traded at 91 times expected earnings for the next 12 months, versus Amazon at 152 times earnings and Disney at 17 times earnings, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Netflix also said Monday that Rodolphe Belmer, CEO of global satellite company Eutelsat, had joined the company’s board.
Source: Reuters
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, India’s telecommunications services provider, today announced the launch of its ultra-fast 5G services in 125 cities. Airtel 5G Plus service is now available to customers in over 265 cities in the country.
Airtel 5G Plus has three compelling advantages for customers. First, it runs on a technology that has the widest acceptance in the world with the most developed ecosystem. This ensures that all 5G smartphones in India seamlessly work on the Airtel network. Second, the company promises to deliver the best experience – between 20 to 30 times higher speeds than today coupled with brilliant voice experience and super-fast call connect. Finally, Airtel 5G Plus network will also be kinder to the environment with its special power reduction solution. Powered by the reliable Airtel network infrastructure, Airtel 5G Plus will provide superfast access to High-Definition video streaming, gaming, multiple chatting, instant uploading of photos et all.
Commenting on the launch, Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel said, “5G has revolutionized the world of internet, ushering new era of connectivity and communications that will prove to be a game-changer for the country. At Airtel, we remain committed to delivering the highest quality of network and service to our customers as we roll-out 125 more cities today. Airtel was the first in the country to offer 5G services in October 2022, and today’s mega launch is our promise to connect every Airtel customer in the country with ultra-fast Airtel 5G Plus. Our 5G rollout is on track to cover all towns and key rural areas by March 2024.”
Airtel 5G Plus service availability will continue to rapidly expand – including service in all towns and villages in the country soon – as the company is working towards offering nationwide coverage. Airtel is now offering its 5G services in every major city from the upper northern city of Jammu to the southern tip of Kanyakumari.
In the last one year, Airtel has demonstrated the power of 5G with a host of powerful use cases that will change the way customers lead their lives and do business. From India’s first live 5G network in Hyderabad to India’s first private 5G network at the BOSCH facility in Bengaluru to partnering with Mahindra & Mahindra to make its Chakan manufacturing facility, India’s first 5G enabled auto manufacturing unit, Airtel has been at the forefront of 5G innovation.
NEW DELHI: Comviva, a global leader in customer experience and data monetization solutions today announced the launch of its 5G compatible Application Driven Network Platform, ADriN to offer a unified, simplified, secured experience to the B2B2X value chain of Digital Service Providers, Enterprises, Hyperscalers, application developers and the smart device ecosystem.
Comviva’s ADriN platform boasts dynamic capabilities that allow it to understand the behavior of connected devices in real-time. This enables the platform to orchestrate and deliver personalized, intent-driven experiences in a secured and controlled environment, regardless of the underlying experience providers – DSPs, Enterprises and Hyperscalers.
Excited at this development, Comviva CEO, Manoranjan (Mao) Mohapatra said, “At Comviva, we prioritize creating unique experiences for our customers’ end-users to remain relevant. Our commitment to deeper customer engagement and significant investments has led to the development of ADriN, a platform that simplifies the user experience in the untapped B2B2X segment. With new engagement models centered around ARR and Network-as-a-Service, ADriN is positioned to become a critical contributor to any experience provider’s top-line growth.”
ADriN simplifies the process of capturing and understanding the intentions of end customers of enterprises and digital service providers. It offers an easy-to-use interface that delivers a trusted and secure service experience. Using ADriN, intentions are captured and processed through machine learning applications across various devices, which in turn creates a real-time service catalogue. This enables networks and infrastructures to respond in a specific manner to ever-changing intentions.
This creates lucrative monetization opportunity for the custodians of the B2B2X value chain with the adoption of ARR models, such as Network-as-a-Service. The monetization opportunity is highly attributed to the intents captured from the end consumer’s devices or machines or interface through their simple native language. ADriN effectively processes and converts this intent into open call models and open APIs, which seamlessly integrate into the ecosystem. This orchestration results in a personalized experience for the consumer, without the need to worry about the network custodians they are connected to, be it G network or other networks.,
Speaking at the launch, Swapnil Shah, Vice President for 5G and Edge Business Group at Comviva said, “ADriN has received strong validation in recent time from niche ecosystem players like digital service providers, enterprises and hyperscalers. With the growing popularity of AI-based operations, ML-driven devices, and application developer communities, ADriN is poised to make a distinct impact on the B2X and B2B2X value chains in the coming years. The collaborative efforts of CAMARA, 5G PPP, ORAN, TIP, 5G ACIA, GSMA Op, ETSI, 3GPP, VEPP, and DSPs have also contributed to democratizing organic networks for developers, while government-driven initiatives have paved the way for an intent-driven future.”
ADriN utilizes an ecosystem agnostic platform approach to comprehensively understand the intention of devices. It dynamically creates policy configurations, marketplace operations, generates slices, and performs numerous other functions over a nimble service engine that seamlessly interacts with infrastructure, hyperscaler, and network functions. The platform is highly flexible, enabling it to meet the unique needs of diverse ecosystems.
NEW DELHI: Apple Inc has rolled out a beta programme to enable 5G on Apple devices as the upgrade lets users try out pre-release software.
This software upgrade enables 5G access on Apple devices, as and when service providers Jio, Airtel and Vodafone enable 5G network access, sources said.
Apple Users have to enrol for the Beta Programme on the website, install a profile and download the software.
Jio users using iPhone 12 and above, in cities where JioTrue5G has been rolled out, will be invited to the Jio Welcome Offer. Jio Welcome Offer provides unlimited 5G data at up to 1 Gbps speed to users at no additional cost. However, there is a condition that prepaid users must be on active Rs 239 and above plan. All Postpaid users are eligible for this trial.
Airtel is not providing any special 5G offer like Jio to their users. In the cities/areas in which the Airtel 5G network has been launched, users can trial 5G services as a part of their existing plan, once they have updated the latest Apple Beta software.
While an email sent to Apple did not solicit an immediate response, the firm had last month stated: “We are working with our carrier partners in India to bring the best 5G experience to iPhone users as soon as network validation and testing for quality and performance is completed. 5G will be enabled via a software update and will start rolling out to iPhone users in December”.
Airtel and Jio customers on iPhone 14, iPhone 13, iPhone 12 and iPhone SE (3rd generation) models can experience 5G as part of Apple’s iOS 16 Beta Software Program. The Apple Beta Software Program is open to anyone with a valid Apple ID who accepts the Apple Beta Software Program Agreement during the sign-up process.
If a user has an iCloud account, that is an Apple ID, it is recommended they use that. If they do not have an iCloud account or any other Apple ID, they can create one.
Customers who want to try the beta software should back up their iPhones before installing the beta software. It is recommended to install the beta software only on non-production devices that are not business-critical. Users can also provide feedback to Apple on quality and usability, which helps Apple identify issues, fix them, and make Apple software even better.
The iOS beta comes with the built-in Feedback Assistant app, which can be opened from the Home screen on the iPhone or iPad or from the Dock on the Mac.
Source: Press Trust of India
