Videocon eyes 1 crore DTH subscribers; to start services on May 1

Diversified business house Videocon Group is making an ambitious foray into the direct-to-home services with plans to garner one crore subscribers in the next six years.     

The group, which made an announcement of Rs 1,000 crore for the DTH venture earlier, made a soft launch of its 'Videocon D2H' services last evening in Macau in front of its 2,500 dealers, who where specially flown in there.    

"The full commercial roll-out will start from May 1. In the first year, we are looking at 15 lakh subscribers and add similar number every year. The target is to have one crore subscribers in six years," Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot told PTI.     

He said the company is set for a mega roll out of its DTH services as the 2,500 dealers will have around 15,000 showroom across the country.     

"That gives us an advantage. Besides, we will also be offering TVs with in-built set-top boxes (STBs), which no one in the market offers," Dhoot said.     He said over 40 engineers of the group spent nearly two years in developing the TV sets with in-built STBs.    

The DTH services will leverage on Videocon's brand equity. "We had also unveiled a new brand logo for the group, which will be common for DTH, mobile services and the consumer durables segment," he said.

Asked about the pricing of its DTH offering, he said: "It will be competitively priced with those of the existing players. We will also have packages which are innovative and give customers value for money."     

The DTH segment in India has players such as Dish TV, TataSky, Reliance's Big TV, Airtel Digital and SunDirect. Videocon will be the latest entrant.     

Videocon Group is one of India's leading groups in home appliances and consumer electronics. It is engaged in manufacturing of audio high-end systems, washing machines, color TVs, VCDs, air-conditioners among others.