Thanks to the exceptional item of Rs.76.43 crore, which was on account of reversal of interest charges and forex adjustments, the company ‘managed’ to show a net profit of Rs.55.09 crore. If one were to remove this, the company would have ended the current Q2, not in the black, but in the red, with a net loss at Rs.21 crore. The only solace is that this loss is lower than the Rs.32 crore loss it posted in Q1Fy13. Its topline rise was marginal, up 2.5% (QoQ) at Rs.533 crore.

EBIDTA margin fell to 29.1% from 29.9% (QoQ). Its subscription revenues rose 14.6% (YoY) at Rs 473 crore and up 4% on a QoQ. Subscriber acquisition cost, which had remained largely flat through preceding Q4 and Q3 at Rs.2127, rose to Rs.2232 in current Q1 and has gone up to Rs.2,273 in Q2. Average revenue per user (Arpu) strengthened from Rs156 in Q1FY13 to Rs.159 in current Q2, on the back of aggressive price hikes. It added 477,000 subscribers during the quarter. Currently, its subscriber base stands at 13.9 million. The digitization deadline is on 30th October and it expects demand for set boxes to soar. Digitisation enhances subscription opportunities for the DTH industry and once this happens, ARPU will no longer be susceptible to the ills of analog cable. Though depreciating rupee remains a worry, Q3FY13 could be much better.