Bharti''s DTH Venture Gets Frequency Allocation

While Bharti''s mobile arm is still gasping for additional spectrum to expand its telecom business, its DTH venture seems to be facing no such problem.Bharti, which recently got a letter of intent from the government to start DTH services, has been allotted six transponders and six frequency bands to start DTH services.

Each transponder can handle between 10-15 channels allowing Bharti to start its services with 60-90 channels by early next year.But the battle for eyeballs will not be easy for Bharti. Apart from entrenched players like Tata Sky and Dish TV, Anil Ambani is ready with big plans for his DTH venture.

Sun TV and Videocon are the other two big players ready to enter the market. The paid DTH market, which is around 3.5 million subscribers, is expected to become 15 million subscribers market in the next four years.With each subscriber expected to fork out about $120 annually, the market will be between $2-2.5 billion. Telcos like Bharti and Reliance now have transponders as well as frequencies in place, which means they can go for a rapid pan India rollout.These companies are sure to replicate the aggressive strategies they have employed in the telecom business, which could lead to a pricing war in the DTH market pushing down tariffs and putting non-serious players out of business.