Bharti Airtel Launches DTH TV Service in India Powered by Broadcom Technology

Bharti Airtel has selected Broadcom's highly integrated satellite set-top box (STB) system-on-chip (SoC) solutions to power its direct-to-home (DTH) TV services -- Airtel digital TV -- marking Broadcom's first commercial satellite product launch in India.

With an exploding interest in DTH TV services, India's burgeoning pay-TV market potential is expected to include 90 million subscribers by 2012, according to In-Stat market research. "Direct-to-home technology is emerging as the leading digital TV transmission platform in India," said Mike Paxton, a principal analyst at In-Stat. "Consumer demand for better picture quality and advanced video services have become catalysts that are driving demand for DTH pay-TV services throughout India."

To satisfy the growing market potential and demand in India for satellite TV, Bharti Airtel selected the Broadcom BCM7454 standard definition (SD) satellite STB solution with integrated H.264, MPEG-4 and VC-1 video decoding, and the BCM4505 integrated satellite tuner and demodulator front-end solution.

This selection of Broadcom's DVB-S2 technology, which it said to provide 30% greater capacity when compared to the DVB-S standard, allows Bharti Airtel to offer additional services, channels, and on-demand and interactive content within the same transponder allocation, providing subscribers with more TV choices and a better overall user experience.

The BCM7454 and the BCM4505 are both in production.