Sun launches DTH services in Mumbai

Sun Direct, a direct-to-home (DTH) service provider, has announced the launch of its services in Mumbai. The company said it has garnered over 1.9 million subscribers since its launch in December 2007 and aims to become one of the leading players in the DTH space by the end of this financial year.

Sun Direct already has a 65 per cent market share in south India, and had launched its services in select north India markets a few months ago.

On an average, it adds 10,000 subscribers a day, said D'Silva. Sun DTH offers 200-plus channels which includes 23 radio channels and video on demand. Sun Direct is a 80:20 joint venture between the Maran family and the Astro Group of Malaysia.

Sun Direct said it is the first company to adopt the advanced MPEG4 technology offering better compression and signal quality and is also the first one ready to offer high definition content.

Sun Direct offers all customer premises equipments like the dish and Set Top box free of cost to the customer, which is a practice followed by DTH platforms across the world.

"As we are charging channels a la carte, we can afford to subsidise the set-top box. One can either subsidise the channels or the set-top box, and we have chosen to do the latter," said D'Silva.

Installation charges are Rs 1,000 and the basic package, comprising over 130 channels, comes at an introductory price of Rs 499 and includes 5 months' free subscription.

Sun Direct has 40 add-on packages priced between Rs 6-195 a month.

Additionally, the company is also offering special packages of regional channels called 'My Pack' in select states such as Punjab and Maharashtra.

"According to our estimates, 70 per cent of the viewers universally watch 10-15 main channels, and then view the regional channels. We expect the sale of 'My Pack' and add-on packages to boost our ARPUs significantly," said D'Silva.

Sun Direct today said that it expects its average revenue per user (ARPU) to rise to Rs 125-130 in six months as customers buy more add-on packages. Currently, the ARPU is Rs 90.

"At the current ARPU of Rs 90, and if the rupee-dollar stabilises at current levels, then we can expect to break-even in five to five and half years," said Chief Operating Officer Tony D'Silva.

However, the company is targeting ARPUs of Rs 125-130 in about six months through the sale of add-on packages, which may advance the break-even, he added.

Sun Direct already has a 65 per cent market share in south India, and had launched its services in select north India markets a few months ago.

On an average, it adds 10,000 subscribers a day, said D'Silva.

The company has so far invested Rs 2,000 crore in setting up an earth station, importing set-top boxes (from China and Korea), distribution channels, and in manpower.

It operates through seven transponders on Insat 4B satellite, and plans to lease two more.

The company spends about Rs 55 lakh a month as lease for the five transponders.