[Satellite News 11-04-10] Bharti Airtel, one of India’s biggest telcos with more than 100 million wireless subscribers, is making satellite services a larger part of its overall strategy in the areas of VSAT service and pay-TV
    The operator launched DTH services in March 2009 and already has about 3.5 million subscribers. “We were the fifth operator to launch in India, up to four to five years behind some players, Ajai Puri, CEO of Bharti Airtel’s DTH business, told Satellite News. “In the last five quarters, we feel we have taken the market leadership position in terms of new customer additions. We have been adding around 26 percent of new customer additions in India. If you look at DTH in the first five years in India, there were around 10 million to 12 million new customers added. Last year, when we come in, we saw the market accelerate. It is no longer just a cable replacement market, but also new customers have been coming into the market.”
    Despite DTH operators picking up huge numbers of subscribers in India, there are still huge amounts of households still left to target for operators such as Bharti. “India has a market of around 240 million households. We realized that there are many people that don’t have a TV today, and it isn’t because they can’t afford one, but rather they did not know what to do with the TV. There wasn’t relevant content. We believe DTH will rapidly increase the number of TV households in the country, so we saw the market outside of this environment. Two-thirds of our new customers are coming from outside the cable environment.”
     The operator also is experiencing good growth with its recently launched HD services. “In the large urban metro cities, almost 15 percent to 20 percent of new customers are taking HD services. On an overall basis, this will be quite substantial. We have only launched two HD channels, but customers are taking an HD box, as it is more future-proof technology. Over the next two quarters, we would hope to have around 10-15 HD channels on our platform in India,” Puri said.
     DTH is “very important” to Bharti and will play a fundamental part in the company’s strategy to create a brand in India, Puri said. “We wanted to cover all three screens, and we were present on two screens — the mobile screen and the PC/laptop screen. The third screen is the TV screen, and we wanted that to be part of our overall portfolio. We believe, as we go forward, there will be a convergence of these three screens, and you could do many things on the same screens. From that perspective, it made sense for us a telecoms company to cover the TV screen.”
     To reach this goal, Bharti Artel will use a combination of satellite, wireless and broadband technologies. “What is likely to happen, is that there will be hybrid models, particularly from a DTH industry perspective. That will go forward. You will have satellite to downlink all the content for customers. Then you will look to integrate in terms of broadband and wireless. You will see more interactive services as a result. The hybrid model will start to develop using satellite and other broadband technologies. Satellite will help downlink content to the customer’s house,” he said.’
     As well as using satellite to attack the consumer market, and offer customers a bundle of services (mobile and DTH), the operator also uses satellite in the business market, and in particular, improving connections in rural parts of India. Ajay Chitkara, CEO of global data business for Bharti Airtel, said, “Satellite services constitute an essential and strategic component of our telecom portfolio. It enables us to service all the three critical segments: enterprise, small and medium businesses, and [small office-home office] users. The company uses its satellite assets to reach out to various carriers for supporting their voice and data services. … We use satellite to extend connectivity and VSAT solutions to our customers. We use satellite for delivering TDM/TDMA technology in Ku-band. We also provide SCPC services in C-band.”
    With growth in the Indian economy expected to come from rural areas, Bharti will look to use satellite even more in the future. “Satellite is already playing a crucial role in providing data services to corporate, government and customers in remote locations and well connected areas. With the Indian economy becoming increasingly focused in rural areas, satellite services can provide connectivity without waiting for any infrastructural rollouts,” Chitkara said.