Cable TV Collection Management Solution(CMS)
Indian Cable TV Sector
With over 85 Million Subscribers, it ranks Second largest Worldwide and has its strengths and
weaknesses built over decades. This Rs. 20,000.00 Cr ($4.5Bn) a year Service Sector has a
unique profile unlike the other structured Service Providers like Telcos or DTH Players and
therefore has its own set of requirements
UPASS began its operations with Cable Sector in Oct.2008 and over last 27 months worked with
some of the best names in the Industry and many unknown yet dynamic Local Cable Operators
Indian Cable TV Value Chain:
Cable TV Value Chain comprises of:
MSO (Multi System Operator)
MSOs are aggregators of Content from Pay Channels and Free To Air Channels and set up Head
ends (aka Cable Plant) where the Satellite Signals are captured, mixed and redistributed with or
without encryption
LCO (Local Cable Operator)
LCOs operate in their respective areas distributing the Feeds received from MSO to the
Subscribers connected to their Network
Subscribers
Two broad categories of Subscribers are classified based on the services delivery mechanism
viz.
Addressable Customers: These Customers have a Set Top Box (STB)to receive Digital signals
As the STBs can be controlled from the Head-end, the Service Provider can remotely activate ,
regulate or deactivate services to the Customers. Currently under 3 Mn Cable TV Customers
use STB
Non-addressable Customers: These Customers are merely connected to the Cable and receive
Analog(over 80Mn)
Signals the delivery of which to a specific Customer is not remotely controllable
Business Model:
Cable is an Utiility with sustainable continuity and hence a Wired Subscriber is an asset in
terms of revenue streams and considered as owned by the Party who lays the Cable and Bills
the Customer. Unwritten monopoly in Cable laying ensures clarity on who owns a Subscriber.
The Subscriber ownership is either with MSO or with LCO
Billing and Collection for Direct Points i.e. Owned Subscribers is done by MSO
MSO also raises Bills in respect of Digital Services to Digital Subscribers under LCOs. For
such Subscribers the LCO adds charges for his part of the Service and undertakes
collection
For Analog Customers, the LCO handles billing and collection. In turn the MSO bills the
LCO a lump sum based on declaration of Analog Subscribers by a LCO and acceptable
to the MSO
Internet, the other Service Billing and Collection by MSO or LCO as per the Subscriber
Ownership
Implications:
Collections and Billing is a multi-layered exercise with delays , duplications and all
incidental problems
Marginal effective control on Receivables
Element of accountability is weak
Sector Perspective:
The Sector is gearing up for imminent Analog Sunset schedule announcement and
working on
Voluntary Digitalization on one hand and ground consolidation through MSO-LCO JVs,
acquisitions, etc.
The stakes for the Cable Sector keep rising in the face of stiff competition from DTH (captured >
95% of Digital Customers and >25% of TV Homes) and decent valuation of Subscriber base in
the Capital Markets. At the same time the margins are under pressures.
UPASS has developed a complete Cable EPPER (Eliminate Pain Points Enhance Revenues)
mobile Applications Suite for the Sector. This note is restricted to Case study in respect of CMS
This Case study draws on interactions with various Clients
The inferences are generic in nature and not associated with any Client in particular and are
confined to financial impact only.
Generic CMS Deliverables:
Collection of dues ranks probably one notch below selling ,on the Management Priority Ladder
and Cable TV is no exception.
An optimal Collection process encompasses-
Billing
Accounting
Timely collection
Internal and external reconciliation
Follow up of Over dues
Structured MIS
Desirable Add on Features
Customer Data mining and profiling
Customer connect without major additional costs for additional Sales
Sector specific add on Features
Value Chain settlement
Data confidentiality
Improving Customer experience
Economical
Mobility to facilitate Offsite collections controllable from Back-end
Pre UPASS Process and Issues:
Cable sector largely works on a post-paid model. The collection of the monies is done by the
Collection Executives (CE) by visiting the customer premises. The CE either issues a manual
receipt retaining a Carbon copy or enters the payment details on a Customer Card
Collection is largely in cash and sometimes by cheque. The money is then deposited with the
LCO who is turn gives agreed proportion of the money to the MSO.
As regards Digital Customers, LCO is entitled to revenue share from MSO out of the Digital
Service fees charged to Customer and the pay in / pay out take place independently.
The process has inherent issues as follows:
Latency in reporting
Leakage / pilferage of the money
Duplication of efforts on Manual entries / data entries
Errors in entries
Impact:
Losses to both LCO and MSO
Lower valuation to the Business Enterprise
UPASS CMS:
Works at either or both MSO and LCO ends and facilitates collection for-
Non Addressable (Analog) Services
Addressable (Digital) Services
Internet Services
The UPASS Kit and functioning detailed else where (Under Products and Services and USP) have
led to following improvements
Better control on cash, plugging pilferage & hence improved collections. It has been
observed that the collections have been improved by around 20%
Improved Collection Curve during the collection cycle. Pre-UPASS most of the collections
was reported during the last phase of collection cycle.
Improved ration of yearly to monthly collections
Increased reconnection of the consumer points, as undisclosed connections were
disclosed by the CE
Zero data entry work, hence better efficiency and elimination of backend processing
errors
