I wonder how long Sify will continue to hang on their consumer business – finding a buyer in the current financial crisis won’t be easy. Not that the company has disclosed any plans to sell the business – but the decline in the consumer business, the longer they take to get rid of it, the less it will be valued at.

What’s telling is that the only question on the earnings conference call, was about how much of an impact on its bottom-line does Sify expect, if they reach a settlement with Yahoo. Sify declined to comment since the matter is subjudice.

Consumer Business

The quarter ending September 30th was yet another poor quarter for Sify – revenues for the consumer business declined 7.46% quarter on quarter – down to $7.50 million, from $8.06 million last quarter.

Broadband Rates Reduced, ARPU Decline: In what appears to be an effort to stem the decline of their broadband subscriber base, Sify has dropped Broadband access prices to Rs. 95. Consequently, Sify’s ARPU has further declined to Rs. 305, from Rs. 316 at the end of the last quarter, and Rs. 336 at the end of Q4 of last year. At the same time, the Sify has reported a decline of 10,000 in their broadband subscriber base, despite an increase in their Cable Operator network.

VoIP Service – SifyTalk: the service was expanded from Hyderabad to Chennai, Bangalore, Vizag, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chandigarh and Ludhiana, allowing customers to make VoIP calls to the US or Canada.

ePorts:

We had highlighted Sifys dependancy on their Access business as their Achilles Heel, and the story continues to be sad for Sify, as their access business continued to decline. As a case in point: in the last six months, their active Cybercafe userbase has declined by 485,000. At the same time, the number of operational ePorts (Cybercafes), has also declined to 1,945. This is despite Sify reporting an expansion of ePorts to 46 more cities in the last 6 months, a conversion of 77 local mom-and-pop cybercafes to ePorts, and the launch of 100 new ePorts.

Perhaps one might see an increase in the number of e-Ports: Sify has signed on Paramount Services as a distributor for their ePorts Express (kiosks) business in South India.

The Enterprises business continues to be their main growth driver. Overall, the company reported revenues of $34.40 million, a 9% growth year-on-year, and 6% growth quarter-on-quarter. However, the companys losses increased to $5.32 million, from $2.39 million last quarter.

Portals

– Claiming a visitor growth of 36% for Sify.com
– Antzill, which we had reported on earlier, is apparently getting 350,000 visitors per month.
– Sify’s sports channel saw an increase in visitors during the Beijing Olympics
– SET and Sify have partnered once gain for a community around Indian Idol, for season 4 , where Indian Idol fans are offered unique opportunities for community building and interactive participation with contestants.
– Has also tied up with Sahara One for the reality show Saas Ya Bahu.

Q209: Release

Q109: Release, Report/Analysis

Related: Impact Of TRAIs Internet Telephony Recommendations; Sify To Benefit