India’s Airtel DTH reports subs up 600,000
August 4, 2011
By Chris Forrester
Indian telco giant Bharti Airtel unveiled very strong 1Q number August 4 (period to June 30) with total revenues up 38.6 per cent.
However, net profits fell 28 per cent, hit by investments and losses on its African subsidiaries, and higher taxes. Much of the growth came from its cellular telephony business. There was also solid growth at its DTH pay-TV business over India where it added a net 600,000 new subs, and thus maintains a 25 per cent market share, at 6.26 million total subs (at June 30).
Rival and market leader Dish TV added 720,000 net new subs in its quarter year to June 30, taking it to a total of 11.2 million.
“Airtel Digital TV has over 6.2 million customers and continues to add one out of every four new customers joining the direct-to-home (DTH) platform. We also offer high definition set top boxes and digital TV recorders with 3D capabilities delivering superior customer experience. We are the first company in India that provides real integration of all the three screens viz. TV, mobile and Computers enabling our customers’ record their favourite TV programmes through mobile and web,” the company said in a statement.