The Hindu Business Line : LG unveils DTH-ready TV range

Mr K.R. Kim, President - South West Asia , LG Electronics, at a press conference to announce the introduction of Digi Direct TV, in the Capital on Wednesday. — Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Jan. 5

LG Electronics is targeting a 40 per cent growth in turnover this calendar year to Rs 9,000 crore compared with Rs 6,500 crore in the last calendar year (2004).

Much of the sales momentum in 2005, according to the company, is to be driven by the company's IT products and the GSM mobile phone segments.

While the contribution of IT-peripherals and GSM phones to the total sales stood at 11 per cent and 3 per cent respectively in 2003, they are expected to increase to 14 per cent and 11 per cent in 2005.

Regarding LG's business plans for the current year, Mr K.R. Kim, Managing Director LG Electronics India and LG's President South West Asia, said, "From January 15, we will start production of the economy models of our GSM mobile handsets in India. We expect the category to grow at 10 per cent in 2005."

LG is also looking at exporting the lower end GSM handsets to West Asia and South Africa. "Our target is to sell 15 lakh units of GSM phones this year with 20 per cent of the sales accruing from exports. In addition, we will be investing Rs 300 crore over the next five years in R&D for GSM phones in India," Mr Kim said.

Mr Kim was speaking at the launch of Digi Direct TV — LG's direct-to-home (DTH) ready flat TV. The company expects the DTH range to contribute 10 per cent of its total CTV sales in 2005. LG is targeting to sell 3.5 million CTVs this year.

"We have introduced Digi Direct TV in two models - 21 and 29 inches. We haven't firmed up the prices of these as yet but it should not be more than Rs 2,500 above the existing colour TV price in the same category," Mr C.M. Singh, Product Group Head of Consumer Electronics for LG Electronics India said.

LG has tied up with Doordarshan for the Digi Direct TV, which comes with a built-in DTH decoder. The Digi Direct TV will be able to receive about 33 free-to-air channels including 17 DD and 12 radio channels including two FM channels.

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