RCom to shut down DTH business next month

RCom earlier tried to sell the company to rivals including the Sun group but later backed out citing low valuation

Reliance Communications, which is in the midst of a debt restructuring, is shutting down its direct-to-home television business from next month after it failed to find any buyer for the business.

“DTH operations are a no-core area for RCom, and we are currently working with three leading DTH operators for seamless migration of our customers, for them to enjoy uninterrupted services. A new scheme without any additional costs will be communicated to our customers in the next few days,” said an official spokesperson of Reliance Communications.

Reliance Communications earlier tried to sell the company to rivals including the Sun group but later backed out citing low valuation. The company claims 5 million subscriber base as compared to Dish-Videocon merged entity which has close to 28 million subscribers.

Industry sources said with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio planning to enter the segment, the competition in the DTH segment would go up thus killing the weaker players.

Early this month, RCom announced that its lifeline plan to merge its wireless telephony operations with Aircel has collapsed.