Bharti partners with Infosys for DTH service

[cjignesh]

BANGALORE: Bharti Airtel has entered into a technology partnership with Infosys Technologies for offering interactive and digital applications on its direct-to-home (DTH) TV service.


As part of the agreement, Infosys will provide a suite of products including devices, application servers and interactive applications that will focus on providing an "enhanced digital lifestyle" to the customers of Airtel Digital TV, Bharti's DTH service.

The technology will help TV viewers avail of services such as their local city information through interactive applications such as iCity,, Internet-like experience on television with iNet, personalised stock quotes, breaking news, horoscopes, cricket scores and shopping deals in the city without interrupting TV-viewing experience.

Said Bharti Airtel president, Telemedia Services, Atul Bindal, “Airtel’s digital TV technology in combination with Infosys’ Digital Convergence Platform will bring digital lifestyle applications offering interactivity and personalisation into the living room.”

The offerings will include interactive and non-intrusive applications like widgets that can be invoked by the user to view relevant and customised information. Airtel digital TV customers will also have select websites packaged suitably for TV-viewing, in an application called tPortal. A number of other innovative applications are slated for release over a period of time, added Bindal.

Said Infosys COO SD Shibulal, ”The technology platform that powers Airtel digital TV brings the potential that computers offer to our television sets. In addition to entertainment, it is now possible to experience interactive information services and engage in transactions using regular TVs. This technology also makes it possible to have a converged consumer experience across devices like televisions, computers, smart mobile phones and digital music players. The availability of these services in the Indian market marks a significant milestone – the transformation of the idiot box into a smart box.”

On being asked by indiantelevision.com whether Airtel would monetise applications like iCity which provide city-specific information, and would that change the revenue model from subscriber driven to ad driven, Bindal explained that as Airtel progressed through the learning curve its revenue model could tilt more towards ad-driven and hence lower subscription rates, since Airtel is targeting to be industry leaders in the DTH space.

The company plans to leverage its mobile and fixed line services base to grow its DTH subscriber base.

Both Bindal and Shibulal refused to comment about the nature or the time frame of the arrangement between their two companies, except that the technology was being provided by Infosys under an exclusive licence for the time being.

Bharti launched its DTH service on 9 October with 175 channels across 62 cities in India.

Source:
http://www.indiantelevision.com/headline...oct138.php