Airtel DTH now in city

Bharti Airtel has launched Airtel digital TV, its direct-to-home (DTH) service, in Kolkata and in other key markets in eastern India as part of its 62 city first phase rollout of the service.

According to Atul Bindal, president, Bharti’s telemedia services, in addition the the eight cities, Airtel plans to introduce the service in 20 cities across the region over the next six months.

All the DTH offers, options and services will be available in Kolkata within a week.

Airtel digital TV will be available across 3,000 retail otulets, including exclusive Airtel stores, to begin with. “We are retailing in 3000 outlets to begin with in eight cities and plan to expand to 5000 outlets by adding 20 more cities to our network. We aspire to establish leadership position in this category just like we have done in telecom,” added N Arjun, executive director of Bharti DTH services.

“The East is a very important market because of Kolkata is the third largest metro market. Moreover, East has large areas like North East and North Bengal which are without access to Cable TV, and that is an ideal opportunity for DTH services,” added Bindal.

Entry-level packs have been priced at Rs 2,499, which includes one-time installation charge and six-month free subscription.

Customers can also opt for top-ups that start from Rs 99 for selective channels and go up to Rs 424 per month to avail all channels.

Airtel’s value pack is priced at Rs 99 and will offer three regional channels including Akash Bangla, 24 Ghanta, and NE TV.

The economy pack is priced at Rs 199 and will offer nine popular channels from East including the three channels which are offered as part of the value pack in addition to ETV Bihar, OTV, ETV Oriya, Zee Bangla, ETV Bangla, and Star Ananda.

Airtel will also offer the Bengali radio channel ‘Sonar’ as part of its World Space bouquet.