Airtel looking at Dish TV for merger to take on Reliance Jio

The Indian DTH space has five players currently - four paid and one free. The move to merge Dish and Airtel's DTH operations would help the telco take on the competition it is facing from Reliance Jio

After leading the consolidation wave with the merger of Videocon d2h with its operations, Dish TV might again be involved in a second deal in the direct-to-home (DTH) space. Reports suggest that Airtel DTH has expressed interest in merging operations with the Essel Group promoted DTH operator.

According to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Dish TV (including Videocon d2h subscribers) commands a market share of 37 per cent while Airtel Digital TV enjoys a market share of 24 per cent, bringing the combined market share of the two to 61 per cent. This will leave Tata