India passes 50 million DTH subscriber mark in 3Q 2012

“Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report” for the Quarter ending September, 2012

NEW DELHI — The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today released the “Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report” for the Quarter ending September 2012. This Report provides a broad perspective of the Telecom Services and presents the key parameters and growth trends for the Telecom Services as well as Cable TV, DTH & Radio Broadcasting services in India for the period covering July to September 2012, and is compiled on the basis of information furnished by the Service Providers.

Broadcasting & Cable Services

Besides the free DTH service of Doordarshan, there are 6 private DTH licensees, offering their services to the DTH subscribers. As on 30.09.2012, 50.91 million subscribers are registered with these 6 private DTH operators.

DTH Subscribers (millions)

                2011                             2012
--------------------  -------------------------------
End-Sept.   End-Dec.  End-March   End-June  End-Sept.
---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------
    41.04      44.21      46.25      48.45      50.91

DTH Licensees:

Tata Sky Ltd., Dish TV India Ltd., SUN Direct TV(P) Ltd., Bharti Telemedia Ltd. (Airtel), Reliance Big TV Pvt. Ltd., Bharat Business Channel Ltd.

Number of Set Top Boxes (STBs) installed in CAS notified areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai increased from 1,001,033 at the end of Jun-12 to 1,048,445 at the end of Sep-12.

Number of set-top boxes:

CAS            2011                  2012
notified  ---------  --------------------
area      End-Sept.   End-June  End-Sept.
--------  ---------  ---------  ---------
Chennai     188,839    226,428    231,729
Kolkata      93,432    160,026    177,319
Mumbai      324,150    360,677    366,410
Delhi       213,539    253,902    237,668
          ---------  ---------  ---------
TOTAL       819,960  1,001,033  1,048,445