The Hindu Business Line : Bharti Airtel launches DTH service

Mr Manoj Kohli (left), Chief Executive Officer and Joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, with Mr Atul Bindal, President-Telemedia Services, and Mr N. Arjun, Executive Director, Bharti Telemedia, in the Capital on Tuesday.

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Oct. 7 Bharti Airtel launched its Direct to Home Service on Tuesday, marking the telecom company’s entry into media and entertainment and for which it plans to leverage the parent company’s 80 million subscriber base and brand name.

‘Airtel digital TV’, the sixth player in the market, is hoping to take the current three per cent DTH penetration in the 225-million Indian households much deeper when it launches on Thursday across 62 cities in the first phase.

“We need to move beyond a land grab to a more hybrid strategy in which our 80 million customers equal 80 million wallets,” said Mr Manoj Kohli, CEO and Joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, who sees average revenue per user (arpu) rising with the new offering.

The service was being launched under the mother brand which would lead to substantial synergies.

Market research, said Mr Kohli, shows there is higher stickiness, lower churn and significantly higher retention for high value consumers who are offered more than two to three products under the same brand.

He added that the advantage of being able to offer more than one services would make Airtel digital TV “more viable than other players”.

The marketing plans were “aggressive” in line with the company’s goal to be a leader, and would result in a lot of excitement in the market place, said Mr Atul Bindal, President, Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel. The service, which comes at an entry cost of Rs 2,499 in north India (including six months of free Rs 249 pack), will offer different packages from a total of 175 channels. For the Southern markets, where Sun Direct has the lion’s share, the service will be available at a starting price of Rs 1,999.

Other features that Airtel wanted to highlight were the technology (MPEG4 standard with DVB S2 technology), an account balance indicator, 10 World Space channels and multiple packages of television content designed to cater to genre (such as sports) and language affinity.

According to Mr N. Arjun, Executive Director, Bharti Telemedia, consumers had complained about having to handle two remotes — one for the TV and another for the Set Top Box, and signal disruption during rains. Airtel digital TV has addressed those concerns too.

Declining to share investment figures, the company said investments for its proposed pan-India presence in the new venture would be covered under the parent company’s $2.5-billion capital expenditure plans.

Shares of Bharti Airtel closed at Rs 749, up 2.66 per cent from the previous day’s close on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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