All Entries Tagged With: "Ajai Puri"
Look who is wooing the farmer! DTH spouts DD idiom, Airtel launches iKisan
For over many decades, ‘Krishi Darshan’ on Doordarshan has been the farmers’ best friend to get updates and other best agricultural practices in India. Taking this forward, Airtel DTH which is seeing good traction from rural areas, has decided to use the direct-to-home (DTH) platform to kick-start its own dedicated interactive service iKisaan, targeted at rural consumers. “Over 60% of our new customers have been coming from outside of the top 300 towns,” said Ajai Puri, chief executive officer, Airtel DTH. “Presence of large untapped geographies gave us the reason »»»
License Fee for DTH operators needs urgent rationalization: Ajai Puri
Just like mobile, DTH has shown that wireless is the way to go if world class home entertainment is to go mass in India. DTH is enabling many in India buy their first TV and reaches 30% of the total C&S homes in the country today. Industry estimates put the total number of TV households at around 140 million. 100 million non TV households therefore is an inviting opportunity but one that is immensely challenging, given that a digital platform like DTH continues to battle several structural anomalies. At over 35%, tax incidence is amongst the highest for any industry which plays such a critical »»»
Simplifying choice a complex task for DTH viewers, providers
Ms Bamini Visagan, a homemaker in Chennai, has still not finalised the list of TV channels her five-member family wants to watch. In the last three days since she decided to go in for the a la carte offer from her DTH service provider, she says every day the list either sheds or adds two-three channels. Only her children are sure of what they want: The complete genre of kids’ channels. The others in the family are yet to decide what each one wants to watch. “I’m really finding it difficult to finalise the channels within my planned budget of Rs 180-200 a month. Now, I’m literally »»»
Airtel Digital TV adds 0.6 mn subs in Q2
MUMBAI: Airtel Digital TV, the direct-to-home (DTH) arm of Bharti Airtel, has added 0.65 million subscribers during the fiscal second-quarter to record a total base of 3.9 million customers till 30 September. Airtel Digital TV has, thus, posted a 20 per cent growth in subscribers over the trailing quarter. The DTH company has added subscribers after the quarter ended September. Industry sources say Airtel Digital TV has a current subscriber base of over 4.2 million. The DTH operator hopes to have a faster growth in the third quarter. “We have a 25 per cent incremental share in the DTH subscriber »»»
Viewer has the remote control
The Hindustan Times-MaRS consumer satisfaction survey on ‘India’s favourite DTH Operators’ reveals that the Indian consumer knows her mind, and direct-to-home satellite television providers will have to work extra hard to ensure that customers don’t switch loyalty to smarter rivals. While Tata Sky has topped the survey overall (scoring 839 points), followed by Bharti Airtel (833 points) and Big TV (816 points), regional variations have thrown some surprising results. Tata Sky leads in Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Lucknow and Mumbai. But it trails Bharti Airtel in Delhi, »»»
Bharti Airtel has technological edge
Bharti Airtel may be a new kid on the DTH block, but it’s giving bigger boy, Tata Sky, a run for its money. In the Hindustan Times survey, it is very close to Tata Sky in most parameters, and leads in uninterrupted services, complaint redressal, payment options and innovative services. Bharti Airtel, which launched its services in October 2008, already has 3.3 million customers. “It (the result of the survey) is not very different from our internal surveys, conducted through outside agencies,” said Ajai Puri, director and CEO, DTH, Bharti Airtel. “Though our survey shows »»»
Broadcasters are missing the big picture
Bharti Airtel’s direct-to-home venture Digital TV wants the government and the regulator to do more to help digitalisation of cable sector. Airtel DTH director & chief executive Ajai Puri said the broadcasters are missing the big picture by opposing Trai’s latest tariff order for addressable platforms including DTH. Puri tells Ashish Sinha how the DTH industry can solve the ills of cable sector if supported by regulations and tariff regime. Excerpts: Why are broadcasters against Trai’s DTH tariff order? Broadcasters are posturing, I feel. So far, the negotiated deals between DTH operators »»»
