Bharti Airtel gets into digital media business

Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecom service provider, today announced its foray into the digital media business, where it would distribute content to a range of users, including producers and media companies.

It would not produce any content, but market and cater to an array of users like animation and gaming firms, news channels, cinemas and banking institutions.

“There is a clear demand for secure digital distribution capability across multiple platforms. Airtel Digital Media Business will help establish India as an innovation hub for global content and format delivery,” CEO Sanjay Kapoor told reporters here.

The move would also pave the way for over 16,000 cinema screens across the country to potentially offer high-quality international viewing experience for consumers in India, he said.

Bharti Airtel would offer content gathering and distribution services to television channels, which would include complete content management services such as playout, archival, collocation and storage. It will also offer content producers an integrated delivery and aggregation platform that can repackage content for all formats.

“The company’s digital media business is integrated with our global network of submarine cable systems, international points of presence and our content delivery network services,” said Rajan Swaroop, executive director of enterprise services.

According to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Indian media and entertainment industry is estimated to grow at 11 per cent CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) from the current Rs 61,100 crore to Rs 92,900 crore by 2013.