Airtel Digital TV to focus on South India
Vipin Bajaj - Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Hyderabad
The four south Indian states will be the major focus area for Bharti Enterprises in its direct-to-home (DTH) business. Though the company has rolled out its DTH operations on a pan-India basis, it is banking heavily on the south Indian states to achieve a leadership position.
Speaking to Televisionpoint.com, Manoj Kohli, chief executive officer and joint managing director, Bharti Airtel, says, "We have leadership position in telecom space in four southern states of India. This gives us an added advantage in our DTH business as well. We would definitely replicate our telecom success story in south India in the DTH space."
Bharti has launched its DTH service – Airtel Digital TV, on October 9. To start with, the services would be available in 62 cities across the country. Airtel's DTH service will offer 175 channels and will be distributed to its potential customers through 21,000 retail points including Airtel relationship centres. To leverage the south Indian markets, the company is working special tariff plans and is also making efforts to customise its services.
"The DTH service will add a new dimension to our existing product portfolio and is a major step towards transforming Airtel from just a telecom brand to a lifestyle enabler. The launch of Digital TV is the culmination of our three-screens strategy, which is to be present across mobile phone, computer and TV screens. We are very clear that Airtel will take over as a leader of the sector as soon as possible," Kohli added.
At present, there are five DTH players in the Indian market, with the four private operators having a combined subscriber base of about 8 million. The private players include Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct and Reliance Big TV. Reliance launched their DTH service in September, 2008.
At present, the DTH industry is dominated by Essel Group's Dish TV with about 3.8 million subscribers, followed by Tata Sky with 2.2 million users, Sun Direct with 1.3 million subscribers and Big TV with half-a-million subscribers. State-owned Prasar Bharati's DTH service, DD Direct Plus, is a free-to-air service.
The four south Indian states will be the major focus area for Bharti Enterprises in its direct-to-home (DTH) business. Though the company has rolled out its DTH operations on a pan-India basis, it is banking heavily on the south Indian states to achieve a leadership position.
Speaking to Televisionpoint.com, Manoj Kohli, chief executive officer and joint managing director, Bharti Airtel, says, "We have leadership position in telecom space in four southern states of India. This gives us an added advantage in our DTH business as well. We would definitely replicate our telecom success story in south India in the DTH space."
Bharti has launched its DTH service – Airtel Digital TV, on October 9. To start with, the services would be available in 62 cities across the country. Airtel's DTH service will offer 175 channels and will be distributed to its potential customers through 21,000 retail points including Airtel relationship centres. To leverage the south Indian markets, the company is working special tariff plans and is also making efforts to customise its services.
"The DTH service will add a new dimension to our existing product portfolio and is a major step towards transforming Airtel from just a telecom brand to a lifestyle enabler. The launch of Digital TV is the culmination of our three-screens strategy, which is to be present across mobile phone, computer and TV screens. We are very clear that Airtel will take over as a leader of the sector as soon as possible," Kohli added.
At present, there are five DTH players in the Indian market, with the four private operators having a combined subscriber base of about 8 million. The private players include Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun Direct and Reliance Big TV. Reliance launched their DTH service in September, 2008.
At present, the DTH industry is dominated by Essel Group's Dish TV with about 3.8 million subscribers, followed by Tata Sky with 2.2 million users, Sun Direct with 1.3 million subscribers and Big TV with half-a-million subscribers. State-owned Prasar Bharati's DTH service, DD Direct Plus, is a free-to-air service.
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