India’s largest telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, has decided to not take anything by chance even if it’s regarding its other businesses. It has now launched indigenously made HD set-top boxes in the country. These Indian made set-top boxes will not only help Airtel Digital TV cut down on import costs but will also let it pass the benefits of reduced costs to the subscribers.
These would be the first indigenously made set-top boxes that Airtel Digital TV will launch in the country. During the initial phase, the set-top boxes will be available only in HD but the company will soon start manufacturing all types of set-top boxes in the country.
“We are proud to partner with the Govt’s Make in India initiative and launch indigenous set-top-boxes made in the country. With this we aim to reduce our imports and thus help drive employment and growth within the country. In the long run, cost synergies will further help us extend more benefits to our customers. The launch also re-establishes our leadership in offering world class TV viewing experience with innovations such as these,” said Shashi Arora, CEO, DTH/Media at Bharti Airtel.
With this move, Airtel has become the latest corporate to jump into the ‘Make In India’ bandwagon of the Indian government. This launch will also provide the much needed boost to the set-top box industry in India as more and more people will get into its production and related services. This way country will establish its own DTH set-top box expertise center locally.
“It is great that Airtel Digital TV is aligning itself with our Make in India vision as this will certainly pedal the fast gaining momentum of the initiative further. We wish the company the very best as they step ahead towards transforming the DTH industry in India with this initiative,” said Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting.
Last month we saw Hero Group enter into the electronics industry in India as Hero Electronix by acquiring a majority stake in Mybox- a set-top box manufacturer. Hero Group plans to invest Rs. 500 crores into its electronics arm over the next few years for leading the growth of this sector, and also for aligning itself with the ‘Make In India’ initiative. We expected it to launch a real product very soon and here we are. These new set-top boxes from Airtel Digital TV will be based on the design of Mybox Tech. Pvt. Ltd.
These set-top boxes will match the global technology standards and will be manufactured in a state-of-the-art facility at Ranjangaon, Pune.
Supported Features
The set-top boxes will come loaded with advanced features like support for full HD 1080p, MPEG-4 with Dolby Digital Plus Surround Sound, 5x picture clarity, unlimited recording via USB drive, USB-based on-demand WiFi connectivity, Anytime TV, and interactive gaming.
We really hope that making set-top boxes indigenously will significantly reduce their manufacturing price and thus will benefit the Airtel DTH subscribers in the long run. All that’s now left for Airtel Digital TV is to make their HD packs more affordable so that more and more people would enjoy their favourite shows in crystal clear HD resolution.
