Act Fibernet unveils streaming device for watching Netflix, Hotstar, Hooq

The 'Act Stream TV 4K' device is powered by Android with access to over 3000 TV apps in the Google Play Store

ACT Fibernet (Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd), the fibre-focused broadband provider on Tuesday unveiled its first consumer product ‘Act Stream TV 4K’ device which is powered by Google’s Android operating system. The Bengaluru-based firm said that the streaming device is a one-stop entertainment solution for customers where they can enjoy their favourite movies, TV shows, sports and music videos from existing on-demand streaming providers and TV channels. It will allow streaming content from popular apps such as Netflix, Hotstar, Hooq and YouTube. Customers can also watch over 100 of their favourite free to air TV channels.

Bala Malladi, chief executive of ACT said that there is exploding popularity of video streaming services and it even includes standard television viewing experience. He said there has been three times growth in average data consumption per user in the last three years. “Today on our platform we (provide) about 150 GB per user per month,” said Malladi.

ACT Fibernet has operations in 18 cities including Jaipur and Lucknow with over 1.4 million customers.

The ‘Act Stream TV 4K’ device is powered by Android 9 Pie operating system with access to over 3000 TV apps in the Google Play Store. The users can also search desired content and control the device with voice commands powered by the Google Assistant. Users can connect it to hard disk, USB, joysticks, camera to view family pictures, and they can do video chat with friends or play games, said the company.

The device is supported with a remote-control unit which can be used to operate the box. The remote has an ergonomic design with minimalistic keys making it easy to use and helps users launch their favourite apps from any screen they are in.

The ‘ACT Stream TV 4K’ box is priced at Rs 4499. It will be available with select plans and for purchase post commercial launch in May 2019. Customers can subscribe to premium content from existing OTT (over-the-top)  streaming partners and channels that have tied up with ACT Fibernet and pay for their subscription directly as part of their monthly bill. As an introductory offer, ACT said it will provide the ‘ACT Stream TV 4K’ complementary to select 5000 customers.

“We set out on a journey (with a goal) that said ‘can we find a way of delivering on a single wire everything digital’...We were a cable company delivering analogue services to homes and from there we said can we (provide) analogue as well as digital services on two separate wires,”  Sunder Raju, founder of Atria Convergence Technologies said at the launch of the product. “But what is interesting that as a company we haven’t lost focus on the fact that we had set out to disrupt the environment. One of the disruptions was how can we make life at home simpler in the digital world. Today is possibly the culmination of that eventful day when we made those statements (goals) to ourselves,” he said