Everything you should know about RIL investment in Hathway Cable, Den Networks

Mukesh Ambani- owned Reliance Industries Limited ( RIL) has announced its strategic investment in and partnership with Den Networks Limited and Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited.

RIL announced a primary investment of Rs. 2,045 crore through a preferential issue under SEBI regulations and secondary purchase of Rs. 245 crore from the existing promoters for a 66 percent stake in Den Networks Limited ("DEN") and Primary investment of Rs. 2,940 crore through a preferential issue under SEBI regulations for a 51.3 percent stake in Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited ("Hathway").

These strategic investments are in furtherance of Reliance's mission of connecting everyone and everything, everywhere - always at the highest quality and the most affordable price and transforming India's digital landscape. After having taken India to the top position in the mobile broadband space, Reliance is now committed to taking India from a global rank of 135th to among the top-3 countries in the world on wireline digital connectivity, RIL said.

Furthermore, through this transaction, Reliance and Jio will be strengthening the 27,000 LCOs that are aligned with DEN and Hathway to enable them to participate in the digital transformation of India through (a) access to superior back-end infrastructure; (b) tie-ups with content producers; (c) access to latest business platforms to improve business efficiencies and deliver customer experience; and (d) investment in digital infrastructure for connecting customers. And the LCOs will continue to do what they do best - provide localized, intimate, people-friendly and ultra-fast customer services.

This will create multiple future opportunities for LCOs as Jio rolls out new services and platforms.

Talking about the new partnership Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman & Managing Director, RIL commented, "Our investments in DEN and Hathway create a win-win-win outcome for the LCOs, customers, content producers, and the eco-system.

With Local Cable Operators now as part of the Jio ecosystem, we look forward to bringing Jio's advanced JioGigaFiber and Smart Home Solutions to more Indian homes, even quicker. We look forward to welcoming other MSOs and LCOs to be part of this partnership. This will result in growing wireline data connectivity in India and making state-of-the-art high-speed affordable internet and digital services accessible to the widest population in the shortest possible time."