Digital platforms company NXTDIGITAL Limited, the media vertical of the Hinduja Group, Saturday announced the financial results for the 9-month period ending December 31, 2021 and Q3 of FY22 where data showed that consolidated revenue for the nine-month grew by 12.84 percent to Rs 807.6 crore, up from Rs 715.71 crores for the corresponding period of the previous year.

The company said it continues to maintain a robust EBIDTA for the 9-month period at Rs 155.8 crores, up 4.01 percent against Rs 149.81 in the last fiscal.

The Q3 ended with a 10.9 percent year-on-year growth in EBIDTA at Rs 52.92 crore. The growth was 2.48 percent over Q2 of this fiscal, after allowing for the AGR payment of Rs 3 crore.

The Board of the company also reiterated in-principle approval for transfer of the media & entertainment business to Hinduja Global Solutions Limited to fuel the next phase of growth — the move is subject to regulatory and other approvals. Independent valuers were appointed to carry out the valuation exercise including the share exchange ratio.

On a Consolidated basis, NXTDIGITAL Limited’s (NDL) total revenue grew to Rs 807.6 crore during the nine month period as against Rs 715.71 crore.

For the quarter ended December 2021, on a consolidated basis, the company recorded a total revenue of Rs 264.2 crores as against a total revenue of Rs 245.11 crores during the corresponding quarter of the previous year and Rs 276.8 crores in the immediately preceding quarter.

For the same period, on a consolidated basis, the company recorded an EBIDTA of Rs 52.9 crore as against Rs 47.81 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year and Rs 51.6 crore in the immediately preceding quarter.

The company’s subscription revenues both for digital video and data businesses continued to be completely prepaid, thereby generating healthy cash flows.

Vision for NXTDigital: The Board took note of the progress on the acquisition of the digital and media businesses by Hinduja Global Solutions Limited (HGSL), which is subject to all statutory or regulatory approvals and approval of the shareholders.

The move will fuel the expansion plans of NDL in the digital space, as it looks to harness analytics and automation to grow its digital portfolio across video, broadband, OTT and WIFI services. The company has appointed independent valuers to carry out the valuation exercise and will submit a detailed report including the share exchange ratio once ready, the company said in a statement.

The definitive growth, both in revenue and EBIDTA, is on the back of various digital initiatives taken by the company to provide an end-to-end digital user experience for its customers, covering digital video, broadband and OTT services — the success of which is reflected in the growth of its subscriber base across its digital platforms.

Fueled by the digital user experience model, the company launched a slew of key initiatives in Q3. First off the blocks was its owned-and-operated NXTHUB, a hi-tech plug-and-play model for its franchisees, giving their customers instant access to digital services including digital video, OTT and broadband.

It continued to push its broadband penetration into new markets, expanding its subscriber base as clarity on the AGR accelerated the push for wired broadband nationally. NXTDIGITAL also launched the first “combo” product, a product that offers up to 700 digital television channels, plus up to 300,000 hours of OTT content from leading international, national and regional OTT platforms plus broadband with speeds up to 1,000Mbps.

According to Vynsley Fernandes, Managing Director & CEO of NXTDIGITAL Limited, “Our Q3 strategy hinged on leveraging our unique technology, national footprint and our digital product portfolio to adapt to changing customer preferences vis-à-vis consumption of digital services. Whether our broadband push, our roll-out of NXTHUBs nationally or the launch of the first “combo” product covering digital TV, OTT and broadband – our focus was on giving our customers a unique digital user experience.”

Growth Drivers in Q4: After having rolled out 66 NXTHUBs across the country, the focus will remain on not just rolling out more hubs, but also increasing the product capability that could extend shortly to wi-fi and other e-services.

Broadband will remain a key driver for growth, as it continues to proliferate into NXTDIGITAL markets offering currently digital television only. The “combo” product offering nationally and operationalisation of its infrastructure sharing platform further drive growth as the media group continues on its path of digital transformation.