Reliance Communications to launch DTH services from 15 August

The Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communications is expected to start commercial operations of its DTH service from 15 August in India, the company announced today.

'Big Digital TV DTH', a subsidiary of Rcom, is aiming to capture a substantial share of the DTH market that is projected to cross 25-million user base in the next three years.

DTH services were introduced in India in July 2006, and currently has a customer base of about 13 million, according to industry estimates. Of this, 6 million are customers of DD Direct, a free DTH service of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, while Tata Sky, DishTV and Sun have a user base of around 6-7 million.

BigTV has also bagged the official direct-to-home (DTH) partnership for the BCCI's Twenty20 cricket tournament Indian Premier League (IPL) with a bid of $31.16 million (about Rs137 crore) for the next four years. As part of the agreement, BigTV will be contribute Rs34.27 crore per year to the IPL as the official DTH partner.

According to industry sources, Big TV outbid the only other contender, Airtel Digital TV, the Bharti group's DTH service. Airtel Digital TV, which is also expected to be launched soon, had put in a bid of $30.28 million for the same number of years.