Airtel arm launches Android-enabled set top box

New Delhi: Airtel Digital TV, the DTH arm of Bharti Airtel, on Wednesday launched an Android-enabled set top box (STB) that will allow consumers to watch online content on television besides regular satellite channels.

Priced at Rs 4,999 for new customers, Airtel Internet TV STB are pre-loaded with movie application Netflix, support casting of content from YouTube, enable users to download applications from Google Play store and play games on TV for 3 months as it is targeting 20 million non-smart TV sets.

"This has been designed keeping in mind the needs of Indian homes and it bridges the gap between online and offline worlds to enable an end to end entertainment experience with the convenience of a single device," said Bharti Airtel CEO & Director, DTH, Sunil Taldar.

New customers also have the option of buying this 4K content ready STB for Rs 7,999, which will come with 1 year subscription of about 500 channels on Airtel DTH.

"Consumers have to shell out Rs 10,000-15,000 above normal TV which is big deterrent. Then there are media streaming devices but experience is not seamless," he added.

Airtel Internet TV will be available exclusively on online sales platform Amazon and after three weeks, the company has plans to sell through traditional retail channels.

"In India there are 30 million TV sets in which only 10 million are smart TV. We are targeting that segment," he said adding "Airtel Internet TV will address this growing seamless experience of offline and online content."

Moreover, the company is also increasing the limit of its customers which are opting for Internet TV STB.

"Those who are paying less than Rs 999 for Airtel Broadband will get 10GB extra data and paying equal or above will get 25 GB extra on purchase of Airtel Internet TV STB," Taldar added.

On being asked about its DTH subscriber base, Taldar said: "It is around 12.5 million sets" and it is growing in both urban and rural areas.

"In the urban area the growth would be driven by the new trends which we have as online consumption etc and in the rural India, it would be through distribution network expansion because it has large amount of undigitised network," Taldar said.

The new STB comes with intuitive interface and has remote with voice based search feature? just talk into your remote to search for content on TV.

Internet TV STB requires a broadband or a 4G hotspot connection with a minimum recommended speed of 4 Mbps for a smooth online experience.

A regular Airtel Digital TV dish antenna will also be a part of the installation.