Bharti Airtel is entering the broadcasting segment with Direct-to-Home (DTH) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services. It has got approval from I&B Ministry for its DTH venture.
IPTV will be launched by December 2007 in partnership with Cisco and initially limited to six cities. DTH would be launched by Q4 of 2007-08 and promoted as a mass product.
Through IPTV, Airtel could push up its broadband base as consumers get TV content along with a fixed telephone line.
For DTH, Bharti could provide advantage of lower setup cost to consumers as the set-top boxes would be manufactured by its arm, Bharti Teletech.
Bharti Airtel has also reduced its share to 40% in the DTH venture, Bharti Telemedia Ltd. to comply with FDI guidelines. via