MUMBAI: With the Ordinance on digitisation going through, cable operators in the four major Metros have to switch from analogue to digital by 30 June 2012. The sunset date for the country is 2014. This is encouraging cable television technology companies.
NDS India country head, GM Jayant Changrani said that the company which offers solutions for the secure delivery of pay TV services is investing $450 million in the country over the next four years. It has already invested $250 million so far.
"We will close three more deals shortly with medium and small sized cable operators. Our solution is scalable. Operators can start with VideoGuard. But what we are seeing is that they also want Mediahighway as they have to compete with the DTH players."
The investment in India will look to enhance resources, skill sets. The company does roadshows to educate operators on its products. These will held more frequently now. He notes that education on components like digital headends will become important.
Conax head of product marketing Tryggve Arveschoug says that the company is looking at a robust growth this year and is aiming to double the client base. Its biggest client globally is Dish TV. He expects mergers and JVs to happen in the cable market. He noted the price sensitivity of this market but adds that Conax‘s USP is that its price performance is good. Clients can choose from 200 STBs. For him what has been seen in India is that operators are finding new ways to do business.
New players are also entering India sensing a big opportunity. One of them is Swedish company Cryptoguard which offers conditional access solutions. Earlier the company was in India through test equipment. The conditional access solution was brought in this year. The company‘s sales manager Asia Patrick Lagerstadt though notes that at the moment many cable operators are waiting and watching.
"They are not ready to invest. There is however a lot of interest given that they will have to switch. Our solution has low start-up costs which makes it a viable option even for small service providers." He says that the solution that his company gives is more flexible for the smaller operators compared to what the larger technology companies have. The solution offers both content protection and a subscriber management system.
Rudraksha Technology offers system integration solutions for digital technology. The company‘s VP sales Samrat Mitra says that the company is targeting operators looking for a stable and a cheap solution. Since it is made in India the solution is less expensive compared to competition. The aim is to have a 70 per cent growth over the next four to five years. This fiscal it is looking to sell 15 headends compared to 10 in the previous fiscal. It works with large networks like Sun Direct as well as with smaller operators like 7Star.
