MUMBAI: Internet service-provider (ISP) and cable multi-system operator (MSO) Hathway, over the next three years, plans to invest to the tune of Rs 500 crore in south India as part of its strategy to launch highspeed broadband service. It will be establishing data centres and other infrastructure so as to cover five lakh customers in three years.

A senior company official told PTI that the Mumbai-based firm, which is into providing internet service through “Docsis 3” technology, has made commercial launch of the service through Gigabite Passive Optical Networks Fiber to Home (GPON Fibre to Home) technology. The company on Thursday announced the launch of its services in India with ultra-high-speed broadband technology.

Consumption of OTT content from the likes of Amazon Prime, Netflix and HOOQ has been increasing and this would require high-speed dependable services. With broadband business present in 10 cities, Hathway has tied up with Cisco, Oracle, ZTE and Nokia for hardware and software components.

Hathway Cable and Datacom managing director Rajan Gupta said, in Chennai, they had observed an explosion in demand (for broadband internet) last year. The average broadband consumption across the country is 45GB whereas, in Chennai, it was 90GB per month. It has just commercially launched in Chennai with GPON technology, he added.

Noting that the incumbent operators provided broadband service through copper wires, Gupta said that Hathway would offer high-speed end-to-end fibre solution through fibre cables with the package starting at Rs 999 a month for speeds up to 150Mbps and 1000GB data unload.