Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to GTPL Hathway Limited Q4 FY26 earnings conference call hosted by Emkay Global Financial Services Limited. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectation of the company as on date of this call.
These statements are not the guarantee of future performance and involve risk and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participant line will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask question after the presentation concludes.
Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Aryan Tripathi from Emkay Global Financial Services Limited.
Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Aryan Tripathi
Good afternoon, everyone. I would like to welcome the management and thank them for this opportunity.
We have with us today Mr. Anirudhsinh Jadeja, Promoter and Managing Director; Mr.
Piyush Pankaj, Business Head - B2B and Chief Strategy Officer; and Mr. Saurav Banerjee, Chief Financial Officer.
I shall now hand over the call to the management for the opening remarks. Over to you, Mr.
Jadeja. [Welcome to the?]
Anirudhsinh Jadeja
call of GTPL Hathway Limited to discuss financial performance of quarter four FY26. We remain the country's largest MSO while consistently deepening our footprint as a significant player in the fast evolving fixed broadband landscape.
Both our cable TV and broadband businesses deliver steady operational performance over the year. Over the past financial year, we have focused on launching and scaling consumer-centric products and services, and with the newly launched GTPL [Digtati?]
, our HITS platform, will enable to scale our operation, speed of ground implementation, and cost efficiency. In the line with our consistent dividend paying policy from last nine year, for the financial year FY26, the board of director have recommended dividend of 20% of face value ₹2 per share.
I now hand over to the call to Mr. Piyush Pankaj, who will take you through the KPI for the cable TV and broadband segment, as well as highlights of our efforts throughout the year.
Piyush.
Piyush Pankaj
Thanks, Mr. Jadeja.
Good evening, everyone. The KPIs for both the businesses are as follows.
First, cable TV segment. Our digital cable TV subscriber base as on March 31st, 2026, stood at 9.40 million.
Among the total subscriber base, paying subscribers stood at 8.70 million. In the broadband business, active subscriber base at the end of the quarter stood at 1.06 million, adding 15,000 new subscribers on a YoY basis.
Home pass stood at 5.95 million as of 31st March 2026, of which 75% are available for FTTX. The broadband ARPU for quarter four FY26 stood at INR 465.
Average data consumption per month stood at 436 GB, a 10% increase YoY. Number of Indian households is expected to increase from 332 million in 2025 to 345 million by 2028, alongside a rise in per capita income from US $2,800 to US $3,600.
This growth is expected to expand India's middle class to approximately 715 million people by 2030-31, creating a strong foundation for higher television and broadband ownership and consumption. Television household penetration in India is around 60%, which is expected to be around 65% by 2030.
India's demographics and economic trends continue to support long-term growth in television and broadband penetration. This quarter has become exceptional as the company has reported negative profit after tax.
The decline in PAT is driven by mainly three factors. First, the revenue impact.
Cable subscription and ISP revenues were lower due to the lower operating days in the quarter, which is a two-day impact, and a marginally decline in subscriber base. The impact is of around 12 crore.
Second is year-end accounting adjustments, higher one-time provision towards conservative accounting and impairment being the end of FY, the impact is of around 7.5 crore, and one-time forex loss of around 9 crore, the revaluation loss due to INR depreciation linked to geopolitical developments in the Middle East. Because of that, the company has lost around 9 crore, and the impact is there in the PAT.
I will now hand over the call to Mr. Saurav Banerjee, CFO, who will take you through the financial performance of the company.
Saurav Banerjee
Thank you, Mr. Piyush, and good evening to everyone joining us today.
On a consolidated basis for the quarter, total revenue rose 4% year-on-year to INR 9,344 million. Subscription revenue came in at INR 2,850 million, while broadband revenue increased 3% year-on-year to INR 1,394 million.
Consolidated reported EBITDA was INR 908 million, reflecting a margin of 9.7%. Operating EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 854 million, with a margin of 18%.
Looking at the full year FY26, consolidated revenue grew 7% annually to INR 37,466 million. Subscription revenue reached INR 11,862 million, while broadband revenue rose 2% year-on-year to INR 5,580 million.
Consolidated reported EBITDA for the year was INR 4,321 million, translating to a margin of 11.5%. Operating EBITDA stood at INR 4,026 million, maintaining a margin of 22% compared to the prior year.
Net profit attributable to the parent was INR 156 million. On a stand-alone basis for the quarter, total revenue grew by 9% YoY and 1% Q-on-Q to INR 6,185 million.
Stand-alone reported EBITDA for the quarter was INR 596 million at a margin of 9.6%. Stand-alone figures for FY26 stood as follows: total revenue was stable annually at INR 8,685 million; reported EBITDA stood at INR 2,369 million at an EBITDA margin of 9.6%; net profit for the period was INR 56 million.
Balance sheet of the company remains healthy, with a debt to equity of 0.18 times as on 31st March. Net cash flow from operations for the full year stood at a robust INR 3,301 million, and we are also free cash flow positive for the financial year.
Now I request the moderator to open the floor for question-and-answer session.
Operator
Thank you so much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session.
Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two.
Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles.
Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Suvarna from Chanakya Capital.
Please go ahead.
Suvarna Bhoir
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity.
This is Suvarna from Chanakya Capital. Can you hear me?
Piyush Pankaj
Suvarna, we can hear you. Please go ahead.
Suvarna Bhoir
Yeah. I have two questions.
We have noticed that there has been no growth in cable TV and broadband subscriber during this quarter. Could you please explain the reason behind this?
My second question is, could you please provide more detail on the exceptional items of ₹56.89 million, and whether this is likely to be there going forward? Thank you.
Okay.
Piyush Pankaj
For the first question, yes, you're right. There is no increase in the subscriber base of cable TV and broadband both sides.
Cable TV, as we have started implementing headend-in-the-sky. We are concentrating right now more of converting the current subscriber base and going for the cost saving, which will start reflecting from first quarter, rather than the expansion in the first quarter in the this quarter.
The all the expansion and all the things will happen from the first quarter of FY27. You will start seeing some positive attraction on that way.
Yes, as the competition is very high right now, and the environment is also not very favorable for the cable TV business, but still, we are holding our base and retaining our base throughout. Plus, from the next quarter, we are going to increase the our pace of operations in the headend-in-the-sky, and we have start getting the more subscriber base on that way.
That's that's the way on the cable side. Broadband side, yeah, this this this quarter is a bit muted.
Overall in the year we have added 15k, but this quarter was a bit muted. Next quarter, from the next quarter onwards, you will start seeing the addition in the subscriber base again.
The one-time which you have seen the exception is the investment in impairment which I have talked about on my statement that how it is impacting our PAT. That is the part of that.
That is a one-time investment impairment of some of the investments which the conservative accounting our auditor has recommended us to take it, and we have taken in this year. It is a only one-time.
It will not continue onwards.
Suvarna Bhoir
Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you for answers. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Richa Saini from HKR Capital. Please go ahead.
Richa Saini
Hello. Am I audible?
Piyush Pankaj
Yeah.
Richa Saini
Sir, I had a question in line of the previous question. This particular industry has been consolidating since quite some time now.
How prolonged can this consolidation phase be according to you? Any reason for this consolidation?
Piyush Pankaj
You're right. This this industry is in the consolidation stage, and we are also preferring to go for the acquisitions and do the consolidation in the industry.
As you know that out of around 80 million subscriber base, still 40 to 45 million subscriber base is with the smaller MSOs. Where with the changing changing technology and the quality and all, it is difficult for them to hold the subscriber base for long.
As as you know the changing technology is happening, and whether it is OTT and whether it is other other YouTube and Insta or Facebook, all are all have become the threat because they all are now a content company rather than a social media companies. Because of that, you have to improve your quality, you have to improve your interactions with the customers, you have to be at the you can say improve your quality.
That that is the problem with this industry that smaller MSOs are in the long term are not good or able to do it, and that's why the consolidation is required so that you can retain the subscribers in the industry and they will enjoy the continuing the services. That's that's one of the reason that's happening in the industry for last four, five years.
This year, as you see that we have our numbers have not increased. It is almost same because we have reduced our acquisitions or consolidation activity, as we have concentrated more towards the Headend-in-the-Sky launch, and we putting the capex over there to to create the one one of a one of the state of the art uplinking center and doing the all the downlinking the in the market.
That's why we have not gone for the very aggressive consolidation and all, which we they we used to do it for last two to three years. Now we are doing it, and you will start seeing the results from the first quarter only, from this quarter only, that for the consolidation.
We believe that consolidation is good for the industry, as 800 MSOs are there in the country right now, which should reduce, and fewer players should be there who can serve the customer better.
Richa Saini
Just to understand that we have been able to capture the benefit of consolidation to certain extent, and we'll be able to get more benefits from it in future. Correct?
Piyush Pankaj
Yeah. That's the way we are working towards.
We are very aggressive towards the consolidation and we will work towards that. After our Headend-in-the-Sky platform, we are going to be very very aggressive for the consolidation of industry.
Richa Saini
Okay. Sir, from an industry standpoint, we now see that apart from us, only one other HITS operator remains active.
Given this limited competitive landscape, would you help us understand what has prevented more players from adopting the HITS model?
Piyush Pankaj
Now, you have to broaden your horizon as for the competitors, because right now, your competitors are everyone who is providing the content. That's why I have taken the name of you talk about telcos, you talk about YouTube, you talk about Insta, Facebook, everyone.
Who all are giving the content or who are taking the eyeballs the customer, those have become your competitors. You have to broaden your horizon on the competitors.
You don't have to go for traditional competitors, as the competitors are always there and they are going to remain there. You have to broaden the competitive landscape, and we are working towards on that basis that we have the competition with all the players who are providing content.
Richa Saini
Got it, sir. Got it.
Sir, one more question. Sir, the cable TV industry has been facing some structural challenges due to the OTT platforms.
Now players like you, Airtel, Jio, we have started giving OTT with normal TV channels as a part of our set-top box plan. How do you see the cable TV subscriber base evolving over the next few years with this?
See,
Piyush Pankaj
you see the whole world is moving towards the connected TVs where you will taking the TV also, means cable connection or DTH connection, plus you are having one or two OTTs or three OTTs there at the home. That is the way which we look forward also, that the future will be like that, because content, you can say, it is more of platform-agnostic.
Content has to reach to the customer. If it is a good content, customer will go and see that content, whether it will be on any platform.
You have to go according to the customer perspective, what their requirement is. If contents are getting available on those platforms, then you have to go for those platforms.
We look towards ours as a pipe. If you see, we are a pipe which is reaching at home.
Right now, we are distributing broadcasted channels. We can distribute OTT also, we can distribute gaming also, which we have started.
We can distribute financial services also. It's more of a layering of the services to the customers.
You have the reach at home. How you are going to utilize that so that your customer is satisfied, whatever he wants, he is getting that.
That's the way we look into the business, and that's why we are providing all type of combinations of different services. That's the way we look forward for the future.
Richa Saini
Sir. Okay.
Got it. Thank you so much, sir.
I will join the queue for the further question.
Piyush Pankaj
Sure.
Operator
Reminder to all the participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. Our next question comes from the line of Harsh from Alpha Alternatives.
Please go ahead.
Harsh Patel
Hi. Piyush ji, you are talking about the 4 to 5 crore customers in the MSO space, right?
You are saying that you will be very aggressive. Can you tell us in the next coming years, like FY27 and '28, how much of this 4 to 5 crore customer you can acquire very confidently?
Piyush Pankaj
It's a very speculative question, Harsh, as you know. We are in talk with different players, big players, I will say, and which you will start getting the announcement in first quarter only, as now already we have implemented Headend-in-the-Sky, and now we are going ahead with again.
I will say, yes, good substantial number will come. I can't give you exact numbers, as you know it's more of become a speculation.
Yes, we are on the job, and by next quarter, next quarter call, you will you will get that okay, this much number has come and then we will we start seeing the trends on that side. Yes, we are we are doing the consolidation and one of our main strategy is that.
Harsh Patel
This would be acquisition of MSO, right?
Piyush Pankaj
Come again, sorry, Harsh, not get it.
Harsh Patel
You're talking about acquiring few of the MSOs?
Piyush Pankaj
Yes, we are talking about acquisitions. Yes, we are looking forward to go ahead and do it.
Yes.
Harsh Patel
Got it. Secondly, I just wanted to understand that on your cable TV base, how difficult it is to take a ₹5, ₹6 hike in ARPU?
Piyush Pankaj
See, ARPU, you can do higher. We are doing it this year also.
We did it last year also. As Indian markets are very sensitive about the ARPU.
We are increasing it, and every time if you are seeing it's increasing by ₹3 to ₹4 to ₹5, which is hardly, you can say, 3% to 4% increase. That 3% to 4% increase will happen every year.
That is going to happen. In 3 years' time, you will say yes, 10% to 12% increment has happened in the ARPU.
Drastic improvement in the ARPU, we are not looking forward to that. We are more going for playing the volume game rather than the value game here.
That value is going to be 2% to 3%, 4% maximum, and main volume game is going to give you the returns and the revenues.
Harsh Patel
You say the volume side will be taken care of by that acquisition of MSO, right? From there, you'll see the volume growth?
Yeah.
Piyush Pankaj
Inorganic, organic. If you can see, Harsh, I'll just give you the larger perspective on that basis, that I've just given that there are 332 million households are there.
Out of that, the TV households is just 193, 194 million, and still it is somewhere around 60% only. Still 40% is there which is without TV, which is you can say non-cable, non-DTH, non-TV areas in country right now, which is somewhere around, you can say, 130 million to 140 million households which is there.
That opportunity is bigger opportunity there, which you can increase. You can go for inclusiveness of them as a becoming the TV households.
As now one of the reasons that we have gone for the Headend-in-the-Sky so that we can be present in every nook and corner of the country and we can start
Harsh Patel
a
Piyush Pankaj
business within a week's time to 10 days. That's one of the prime thing that how you can bring this 150 140 million households into the way of your television and everything.
That's one of the bigger target there. Plus, the other target becomes, as I've told you, 40 to 40 40 to 45 million households which is still with the smaller MSOs and they're like a low-hanging fruit for go and acquire them.
There is some cost involved. Yes, cost involved, but we go and acquire them and you increase the subscriber base on that basis.
The third comes the DTH, because now you are at par with DTH from last 5 4 4, 5 years, as you have same number of channels, you have the same quality after digitization, and you have a big portion of DTH as a competition where we can win back, because DTH has won the customers from the cable and grown. Now the time that we should win from them.
One more portion is your DD Free Dish, because Free Dish has
Harsh Patel
grown
Piyush Pankaj
and have increased tremendously only because there was no option in the rural areas for the other players to go into or have to reach those households through your P2P or fiber and everything, and direct-to-home is too costly for them. That's why they have gone into the fold of Free Dish.
There is 40 to 50 million subscriber base is lying in the Free Dish, which you can now hamper because you are also reaching there through the Headend-in-the-Sky. The possibilities are large.
We have to take it one by one. The possibilities are large, and we can attack in every one, and there is a lot of work for next decade, I will say, that you can do this and increase this businesses twofold, threefold to fivefold.
That's you can say the large perspective is there to increase your business.
Harsh Patel
Got it. Lastly, on your capex and depreciation, how should we model this going forward?
Piyush Pankaj
Capex this year, we did around 290 crore of capex total. Out of that, around 110 crore is in the broadband, and 180 crore, which includes the HITS capex, is 180 crore.
We are looking forward that next year, we will be again back to 350 crores somewhere. We are looking forward that 150 to 160 crore will be on the broadband, and rest will be under cable and HITS.
Harsh Patel
When will the capex peak out, sir?
Piyush Pankaj
Sorry, Harsh, your voice was cracking.
Harsh Patel
When will the capex peak out? Peak out?
Piyush Pankaj
Maximum will peak out means you're talking about the quarter-wise peak out, or
Harsh Patel
No, no, no. You're doing around ₹300-odd crore every year,
Piyush Pankaj
right?
Harsh Patel
That will come down to what, 100 crores of maintenance by when?
Piyush Pankaj
You're talking about when it will get start reducing? We are not looking forward to reduce it, as we are seeing that this is the time for the growth for both the businesses.
As I said, you lot of HITS and cable business, there's a lot of perspective. Same is there in the broadband side, as you know.
In the broadband, only 46 million households are in the wire side right now, and as you see the wireless cost are going up with the time. This is the time where you can anchor thing, and out of 332 million, only 46 million, which is hardly around 14%, 13% to 14% penetration is there.
I will say this next decade is going to be both for broadband and cable, for both the businesses, where you can increase your stake and whole participation in the country. I am not looking forward for at least for next 3 years that we will going to reduce our capex.
Harsh Patel
Got it. Okay.
Fine. That's all from my side.
Operator
Thank you. Reminder to all the participant that you may press star and one on your touchtone telephone in order to ask a question.
Our next question comes from the line of Vinit Manek from Karma Capital. Please go ahead.
Vinit Manek
Yeah. Hi, Piyush ji.
Can you hear me?
Piyush Pankaj
Yeah. Vinit.
Go ahead.
Vinit Manek
Piyush ji, just one question from our side. It was really disappointing to see a loss this quarter, but, sir, overall, despite of all the efforts that you mentioned on the call that we have been doing it for so long, our margins have been at least on the operating side that we used to say that 24% margin we used to make, that was down to 22, and now it is down to 18%.
In fact, if you see on a CQ basis also, we are seeing a de-growth. Our broadband business is also growing at a very smaller pace.
How should we look at the long-term business sustainability about the profitability of the business? Because margins have been falling and growth has not been so great for us.
That was the first part of the question. The second part is that can you slightly elaborate on the exceptional charges that you said on the investment that you have taken with the recommendation of the auditor, largely that was attributable to the nature of it if you can explain.
Thank you.
Piyush Pankaj
Sure, Vinit. First question, you're right, Vinit, that this quarter is a bit disappointing because we have gone for the negative PAT, and this year also, as I said that in the beginning also, that we are have a very muted number on the both the businesses, as we have not lost the numbers, but yes, we have not increased numbers which was expected that we should increase our number and all.
As the cable business side, I will say that we are more concentrating towards not going overboard of acquisitions and all, and concentrate on our Headend-in-the-Sky capex so that we can be ready for the future. That's why we have a bit muted.
In the broadband side, yes, the competition, mainly from the new technology which has come as a AirFiber, and that has suddenly taken us aback, and now we are recovering from that, as our net addition has started increasing now. We are hopeful that next year is going to be better, that business also and cable business also.
The profitability side, I would say we have maintained our operational profit, if you see, 22%, 22%. Yes, you're right, that at some point of time, we were at 24% to 25% at 20 in 2022 or 2023, and we have come down to 22%.
We are looking forward that with the implementation of HITS, as we are going to save a lot of money in your delivery cost, which is directly going to increase your EBITDA. Plus, the new businesses which we are going to get is going to increase that.
You are able to control your cost. If you go through our employee cost and our operational cost and also, we have worked tremendously towards that this year, and we have brought it down, both our other operating expenses and all, on the overall, and the employee cost, plus you can see the pay-channel cost also it is consistent, same.
If you talk about the operational profit, operational slide number 24 in our investor presentation on that way. Yes, you're right that in one look, this is a degradation, and this quarter is really really impacting, which I have given in my statement also.
The another one you're talking about the impairments and all. This is two parts are there.
One is the impairment, which has happened on some of our old investment, which has happened, and those investment which we invested long time back in 2011, 2012, 2013, in the analog era. Those investment has become invalid, you can say, on those way according to the auditors and all, and they have recommended to go for impairment for the more of clean-up of the books, one time.
That has appeared there, which is below the EBITDA is around ₹5.7 crore and above the EBITDA is around more of 2 ₹2 crore, ₹2, 2.5 crore. Total is around 7.5 to 8 crores is there.
Second portion which, Vinit, we have got hit is because of our the forex fluctuation. As you know that the accounting of Headend-in-the-Sky, the transponders which we have taken in from Indonesia, where the contracts are in the dollars, and we have started taking that in the depreciation plus those costs, which we have to do on ROU basis.
Because of those fluctuations, as on 31st March, the depreciation was very high for the INR, and 1st and 2nd April, it got back. We have to go according to the 31st March, and we got hit by around 9 crores because of that in the books, which is like a one-time.
If those one-time would have not happened, those are the notional cost, I will say, would be a positive, having greater margins, and that is the case. Future, I would say, Vinit, we are very very hopeful.
As we are rethinking on the whole business from last 1, 1.5 years, as we told you a year also. That's why we are implementing and taking big steps, where we are spending on the capex on the new platforms.
We are spending on the capex on the broadband side also of different technologies. All those things we are doing on the basis that yes, we are going to implement our strategies in the coming years.
Again, which I've talked, that next 3 years, we are going to be very very aggressive, which we used to around 5 years back. We are going to used to those again.
The next 3 years is going to be aggressive, and we are hopeful that we are again going to improve our margins, and again we are going to start seeing the positive PAT. Again, the PAT will go up like it has reached to 200 crores at some point of time, and then it declined.
We are hopeful that we will again reach to that level in next 3 to 4 years.
Vinit Manek
Sir, the 18% margin that we reported, the operating margins that we reported this quarter, was because of that one-time charges included in that, from 22 to 18, or that one-time charge is below the line item
Piyush Pankaj
No, that is below the line item. 22% is in operating slide number 24 if you see, But
Vinit Manek
22 is full year, right? FY26 is 22%.
This quarter, it went down to 18% on a operating basis.
Piyush Pankaj
This quarter? One minute.
One minute. This quarter, we have 18%.
That is one of the exceptional because 2 days' revenue has gone. Always quarter four is lower, Vinit, because in quarter four, you get just a 90 days, not the 92 days.
If you see the quarter three was 24%, it was exceptional, because you got 92 days there. That's why revenue goes up and down.
It's better to see on the yearly basis that where we are standing.
Vinit Manek
Okay. Got it.
Thank you, sir.
Operator
Thank you for answering. Yeah.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Vrishti Gupta from VG Finance.
Please go ahead.
Vrishti Gupta
Hello, sir. Am I audible?
Piyush Pankaj
Vrishti. Go ahead.
Vrishti Gupta
Yeah. My question is, what is the churn profile for cable customers, and which retention initiatives have shown the best result?
Piyush Pankaj
Churn, if we talk about, the industry churn is somewhere around 17% to 18%. We are at the same level.
If I talk about 17% to 18% churn, then you can say that if we are retaining our customer at the same level, I will say that it is a reducing churn year-to-year, because when the COVID time was there, the churn has gone up to 24%. Then we started reducing and reducing, and now it is at around 17%, 18%, which is there.
We are hopeful that it will go down with the time, as more retention will come into that. We are doing all efforts on the retention, and that's why we are going down to 17%, 18%.
Still industry, it is at 20%, 21% churn is going on. Yeah.
We are doing better than industry on the churn matter. That is the case.
Vrishti Gupta
Sir. What is the strategy for set-top box upgrade or replacement, and how are the costs recovered?
Piyush Pankaj
See, if you are talking about replacement and all, the replacements are happening, and generally we are doing the replacement with our used box, refurbished box. If it has to be on the new box, then there is a cost involved on that for the replacement.
That's how you are recovering your investments that way. Whether it's a two way you can replace: if a box is not working, either it has to be a refurbished box, which is like a used box which is retrieved and repaired box, so that you can recover at the very small cost, or if you have to go for the new box, then you have to pay for the new box.
That is the policy. Achha, okay,
Vrishti Gupta
okay. How do we coordinate between business teams of cable and broadband to maximize our cross-sell opportunities?
Piyush Pankaj
No, the teams are different. Yes, you can say that the collaboration is always there between the teams on the strategic matters, on the ground matters, where you have to give the you can say the leads here and there.
Yes, as both the businesses are different, requires different skills, the teams are different. Yes, you pass the leads, you collaborate between them in the same areas, technical people are there who are going to help each other, all those things are there.
All the synergies are there on the helping side. Yes, there is a broadband team is different and the cable team is different.
Dedicated teams are there.
Vrishti Gupta
Okay. In the broadband, what is the expected ARPU mix as customer moves to higher-speed tiers?
Piyush Pankaj
Right now, ARPU is 465. If you see, from last 3 years, the ARPU was at around 440, and it has gone up to 465.
We have not increased our package price. We have reduced it a bit.
Because customers are migrating to higher packages, higher-speed packages, because of that, Last 2 years, we have seen that around ₹25 increase has happened in the ARPU, and we are looking forward that that increase will come in the future also.
Vrishti Gupta
Okay. Further, I also wanted to know that how long does it typically takes us to convert the home passed into a paying broadband customer, and what steps we have taken?
Piyush Pankaj
See, once you make the home pass and you declare it that it is available for the sale, generally it takes 18 months for converting those home pass up to around 17% to 20%, or extracting the customer to that level. It depends on the area.
If it is a very dense area, then it can go up to 25% to 30% also. If it is in rural area, it's might be 12% to 15%.
The industry norm is 20% conversion of the home pass. That's the best.
We are at around 17%, 18% right now on that. We are extracting more and more with time.
Vrishti Gupta
Okay. How do we prioritize which neighborhood or circles to roll out next, and what commercial criteria drive that choice?
Piyush Pankaj
Those are, I think, you are going into the details of operations, that how we do that for the areas and all. I think we can connect offline, and I'll give you all the details of those, that what are the criteria we keep it for different-different areas and whether it is a rural, whether it is urban, what type of speed and what type of packages we have to take for those areas.
All are different criteria. If I talk about that if I'm doing something in Anand, it's a different strategy.
If I'm doing something in Sanand, it is a different strategy. If I'm doing in you can say Nashik, it's going to be a different, and if I'm going in the Bombay, it is going to be different.
That's way that's operational thing. It's not you can say standardized thing.
Standardized is some basic standardization, but you have to go according to the market, or according to the customer you are targeting in those markets.
Vrishti Gupta
Okay. Thank you so much, sir.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Viral Jain from MSG Finance.
Please go ahead.
Viral Jain
Yeah. Hi, am I audible?
Yeah.
Piyush Pankaj
Yes, Viral. Go ahead.
Viral Jain
Thank you for the opportunity. Few quick questions from my side.
The first one was on the capex side. Can you just provide us a guidance for the capex plan for going forward, let's say, for 2 years from '27 to '29?
What could be the split between the cables, broadband, and HITS? How much of it will be for growth, and what will be the maintenance capex?
Piyush Pankaj
We are looking forward to somewhere around 350 crores per annum as the capex which we are looking forward. Out of that, around 150 crore is going to be in broadband, and the rest 200 crore is in the cable and HITS.
Cable and HITS together because cable is going to get into HITS with the time. That's the way.
If you talk about the maintenance capex, maintenance capex will be somewhere around 50% on the both sides, going to be in the maintenance capex and 50% is going to be the growth capex. That's why we are going up with capex [unclear].
That's way you can say next 2 years somewhere around 700 crore what's we are trying to do. Out of that, 350 crore will be the maintenance capex and 350 crore will be the growth capex.
Viral Jain
Got it, sir. My next question was with regards to the ROCE.
If we look historically from FY14 to '18, we could see that we were doing ROCE of around 12% to 15%. During the COVID year and post, it grew up exceptionally high to around 25%.
Post it, we can see that it's already coming back to normal range of 12% to 15% in FY23 to '24. However, but the last year, we saw that the ROCE was in the single digit.
What could be our expected target for ROCE in FY27 to '30? What will be the initiatives will it drive?
Piyush Pankaj
Because see, the normalization is somewhere around 15%, I would say, and we are going to get in that. This year is exceptional, as I said that we have not gone for big acquisitions and all, or increasing the number in both the businesses, as we were more concentrating towards implementing the new platforms or structures in such a way for the futures.
The investment has gone towards that, and the capex for the new platforms and all. That's why the sustainable capex is required more rather than the growth capex which we did.
That's why you will see the ROCE has come down a bit. Going forward, as I have mentioned that there is going to be a good growth capex spend, and that is going to increase the ROCE.
We are hopeful that we'll achieve back again 15% in next 2 to 3 years ROCE.
Viral Jain
Back to 15%. Got it, sir.
That was all from my side. Thank you.
Piyush Pankaj
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. As there are no further questions from the participant, I would like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing remarks.
Thank you, and over to you, team.
Piyush Pankaj
Yeah. Thanks.
I would like to express my thanks to every participant who took their time out to attend the call. I would like to thank Emkay for organizing this call.
For any queries, please feel free to contact MUFG IR, who are our investor relations advisors. Thank you, and have a good day.
Operator
Thank you, sir. On behalf of Emkay Global Financial Services Limited, that concludes this conference.
Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.
Already premium?