13.09 million DTH subscribers in India at end March 2009

NEW DELHI — The Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India (TRAI) today released “The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators Report” for the quarter ending March 2009.

Broadcasting and Cable Services

• Based on the data received from 19 Broadcasters/their distributors across the country, there are total 130 pay channels in the Quarter ending 31st March 2009. However, the maximum number of Free-to-Air (FTA) and Pay Channels being carried in any particular cable networks as reported by Multi System Operators are 168 and 118 respectively.
• Maximum number of channels being carried by any of the reported MSO in digital mode is 233; whereas in conventional analogue form, the maximum number of channels being carried by any of the reported MSOs is 100 channels.
• No DTH license was issued during the quarter ending 31st March 2009. Therefore, at present, apart from free DTH service of Doordarshan, there are 6 private DTH licensees. Out of these 6 licensees, 5 licensees are offering pay DTH services to the customers as on 31.03.2009, while the remaining one is in the process of rolling out its services. Total number of reported registered subscribers being served by these five Private DTH operators is 13.09 million at the end of March 2009.
• At the end of the quarter ending December 2008, there were 767616 set top boxes (STBs) installed in the CAS notified areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Now, in the quarter ending 31st March 2009, the number of STBs has increased to 770053 in the CAS notified areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

More: The Report