Altech targets India decoder market

Johannesburg, 01 Oct 2007

Altech's television decoder business could soon see a significant increase in revenue if its entry into the lucrative Indian pay-TV market is successful.

Currently, 52% of Altech UEC's revenue is from the southern Africa region. However, Altech group CEO Craig Venter says this will change if the India market is receptive to its products.

"We will start delivering on the first Indian contract, secured in 2006, during the second half of the year. Two weeks ago, we received a second contract from the region. This is a major breakthrough for the decoder business," he explains.

According to media and telecommunications analyst firm Media Partners Asia, India's 1.1 billion-strong population supports 110 million "television households". Of these, 70 million households pay for television services.

The firm expects the value of India's pay-TV market to reach $10.5 billion by 2015.

Comparatively, SA has about seven million television households. The country's monopoly provider of pay-TV services MultiChoice has approximately 1.4 million subscribers.

Despite the allure of its India prospects, Venter says Altech UEC has not taken its eye off the local market.

"The Independent Communications Authority of SA recently announced it would license four additional pay-TV providers. I am happy to say that we are already in discussions with these players. We expect a strong performance from this division in coming periods," he concludes.