Sun Direct TV expands into West India

“¢ The country’s fastest growing DTH service provider with over 1.4 million subscriber base expands into West India
“¢ To offer free set-top boxes and strong regional programs as part of the bouquet of services
“¢ Attractive packages and pricing (Rs.10- Rs.115), pay for what you see
“¢ To achieve a active subscriber base of 3 million plus by this year end

AHMEDABAD — Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd, a leading direct-to-home (DTH) service provider in south India, is all set to replicate the success story in the other parts of the country. Sun Direct, the third entrant in the DTH market has an active subscriber base of 1.3 million in the south in a span of 200 days since its launch in Dec 2007. Starting with Ahmedabad, the company plans to rerun its success in western Indian markets.

Sun Direct is a 80:20 joint venture between the Kalanidhi Maran family and the Astro Group of Malaysia. Sun Direct adds around 200,000 subscribers per month in the south and the target is three million plus active subscribers by the end of this fiscal nationally. Sun Direct is the first one to adopt the advanced MPEG-4 technology offering better compression and signal quality and is the first one to offer HD TV (High definition) content. Sun Direct offers all customer premises equipments like the dish and Set Top box at no additional cost to the customer, which is a practice followed by DTH platforms across the world.

Speaking on the occasion of launch The Chief Operating Officer of Sun Direct Mr. Tony D’silva said “Going by what we have achieved in the four Southern states we are confident of replicating the same model in other parts of the country successfully and by the end of this fiscal we would like to achieve an active subscriber base of about three million plus subscribers. We have spent considerable amount of time understanding the requirements of the customer since we launched our services in January 2008 and have been building up the required distribution network and post sale service infrastructure in place”

Targeting the regions with a strong regional channel base, Sun DTH plans to make the venture enterprising, with their unique and cost effective packaging, transforming DTH into a common man’s product. One of the reasons for choosing Gujarat as the first launch pad outside of South India was the Gujarati’s strong affinity for their language and rich culture.

Sun Direct’s success in the South has been attributed to its rational pricing (paying for what is seen) and the establishment of a strong distribution network. The concept of low-cost packages ranging between Rs. 15 to Rs. 140 per month worked its magic among the customers. With more than 135 channels, comprehensive understanding of the customer requirements and a strong distribution network Sun Direct is all set to make its mark in the coming days in the DTH services as a value for service provider.

The company also plans to start ventures in the unexplored North East regions, Orissa, Maharastra, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal. The other phases of the expansion would target Uttar Pradesh, MP, Bihar and the rest of the Hindi speaking belt.