100 million multichannel homes in India by 2010

Hyderabad, Sep 27 (UNI) India will have at least 100 million multichannel homes by the year 2010.

This projection was given at a business conclave at the ongoing 58th International Astronautical Congress.

Over seven million new DTH subscribers had been added by various players in the broadcasting industry in the country in the last three years. The country, with at least 37.88 million direct-to-home subscribers by 2015, would be the benchmark for regional DTH development programme world-wide, according to Mr Robert Bednarek, President and Chief Executive Officer, SES New skies.

India with its more linguistic and cultural diversity than Europe was a model for all developing economies, he noted.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would launch a communications satellite next year as a spare to cover up any failure in existing communication satellites to meet the growing demands of DTH and VSAT broadcasting markets in the country, Mr A Bhaskharanarayana, Director, Satellite Communication, ISRO, said.

It normally took 24 to 30 months to repair any failure in a communication satellite and hence the decision to launch an additional one to meet the growing demand from DTH platforms, which had programmed to dish out 700 satellite channels to viewers soon.

Canada was looking at India's surging VSAT and DTH markets, Telesat Vice-President (Marketing) Michael C Schwartz said, adding that the country had to adopt multiple satellite strategy as ISRO was not in a position to meet on its own the increasing demand from the domestic broadcasting industry.

The Government had used VSAT successfully for e-governance, distance education and telemedicine, Mr Atul Kumar Kuthiala, Director (Engineering), Doordarshan, said.

India should adopt a judicious mix of DTH and VSAT broadcasting modes to meet its growing communication needs, Mr P K Garg, Wireless Adviser in the Central Department of Telecommunications, said.

UNI