In one of the largest-ever direct-to-home (DTH) set-top box contracts in the country, Reliance Communications (RCom) has placed an order for 5 million boxes with vendors from Korea, China and Taiwan to be delivered between July and December next year. The vendors include Hyundai, UEC, Thomson, Hunmax, Homecast, Koship and Kaon Media.
The current landed cost of an MPEG4-enabled set top box in the global markets ranges between $50 to $60 based on the size. RCom is looking at innovative ways to reduce the overall cost of set top boxes by up to 25 per cent, thereby procuring MPEG4 set top boxes at prices lower than the prevailing MPEG2 boxes.
The company, which plans to launch its DTH services under the Big TV brand, has already placed orders for the launch, scheduled in a few weeks. RCom has already received stocks of close to 2.5 lakh set-top boxes in its warehouse and another shipment of 2.5 lakh set-top boxes is scheduled to arrive in a weeks time.
In case the need arises to fill stocks in the market, provisions are being made to airlift the set top boxes from the vendors' premises and placed on the market shelves within 36–72 hours, at any retail location in the country.
The company plans to get four to six models of set-top boxes with varied capabilities including some with video recording facility in an inbuilt memory disk or DVD drive. The recording-enabled set-top boxes would have capabilities to preset recording of any programme even when no one is present at home.
The Reliance Technology Innovation Team is closely working on the finer modalities of the features of the boxes for specific customer segments. They will be in close contact with the vendors over the duration of the contract for continued enrichment of features based on feedback.
According to sources, the company had initially planned an order of close to 2 million set-top boxes but raised the numbers considering the opportunity to target the 160-million TV households in India out of which only about 70-million have a cable connection.
Big TV DTH, a fully-owned subsidiary of R Com, is seen as a major revenue yielder for the future.
A month ago, the company had stated having over 45,000 customers using the services on a trial basis. Reliance Comm's Big TV will of course have tough competition from Dish TV with around 3.2 mn subscribers and Tata Sky with around 2 mn subscribers.
RCom places order for 5 mn STBs
The current landed cost of an MPEG4-enabled set top box in the global markets ranges between $50 to $60 based on the size. RCom is looking at innovative ways to reduce the overall cost of set top boxes by up to 25 per cent, thereby procuring MPEG4 set top boxes at prices lower than the prevailing MPEG2 boxes.
The company, which plans to launch its DTH services under the Big TV brand, has already placed orders for the launch, scheduled in a few weeks. RCom has already received stocks of close to 2.5 lakh set-top boxes in its warehouse and another shipment of 2.5 lakh set-top boxes is scheduled to arrive in a weeks time.
In case the need arises to fill stocks in the market, provisions are being made to airlift the set top boxes from the vendors' premises and placed on the market shelves within 36–72 hours, at any retail location in the country.
The company plans to get four to six models of set-top boxes with varied capabilities including some with video recording facility in an inbuilt memory disk or DVD drive. The recording-enabled set-top boxes would have capabilities to preset recording of any programme even when no one is present at home.
The Reliance Technology Innovation Team is closely working on the finer modalities of the features of the boxes for specific customer segments. They will be in close contact with the vendors over the duration of the contract for continued enrichment of features based on feedback.
According to sources, the company had initially planned an order of close to 2 million set-top boxes but raised the numbers considering the opportunity to target the 160-million TV households in India out of which only about 70-million have a cable connection.
Big TV DTH, a fully-owned subsidiary of R Com, is seen as a major revenue yielder for the future.
A month ago, the company had stated having over 45,000 customers using the services on a trial basis. Reliance Comm's Big TV will of course have tough competition from Dish TV with around 3.2 mn subscribers and Tata Sky with around 2 mn subscribers.
RCom places order for 5 mn STBs
