ITV

Tag: Headends

  • Andhra Pradesh CM writes to Arun Jaitley seeking 6-month extension on DAS Phase III

    Andhra Pradesh CM writes to Arun Jaitley seeking 6-month extension on DAS Phase III

    MUMBAI: With an aim to address the concerns of 800+ multi system operators (MSOs) and 9000+ local cable operators (LCOs) across 13 districts serving 1.3 million households in Andhra Pradesh, the state’s chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has written to the Information and Broadcasting minster Arun Jaitley seeking a six-month extension to the Digital Addressable System (DAS) Phase III deadline, which expired on 31 December, 2015.

     

    The signed letter, a copy of which is with Indiantelevision.com, says, “Only a few MSOs have got Digital License, mainly due to to non-affordability of digital headends and lack of technical know-how. As a part of AP Fiber Grid AP Government envisages to support there MSOs/LCOs by setting up a multi-tenanted digital cable headend that can be utilised as, ‘Infrastructure as a Service & Platform as a service’ facilitating the operations to apply for digital MSO license and sustain their areas of operation. This will help a large number of operators/employees who are surviving on this industry directly and indirectly.”

     

    The letter further adds, “In view of the initiative and the special situation in Andhra Pradesh, the commissioning of AP Fiber Grid is required to enable MSOs/LCOs to utilise this network infrastructure ad to partner with this project. As this model is going to be uniform among all operators interested in associating with Fiber Grid, the cable operators may not be willing/able to invest for STBs in advance to meet the present deadline. Hence, it is requested to consider extending the phase III Digitisation target date by six months beyond 31 December, 2015.

     

    Highlighting the status of the AP Fiber Grid Project, Naidu further informed that: 

     

    .   AP Government has initiated Fiber Grid project to digitise the households in Andhra Pradhesh through both aerial and underground optical fiber cable network.

     

    .   Work is in progress to lay 24 core ADSS optical fiber cable for a length of around 22000 kms over electrical poles. It is planned to complete this work by June 2016 under phase 1 of Fiber Grid.  2449 PoPs (Points of Presence) will be set up at identified electrical substantiations to house the electronics.

     

    .   Laying of underground Fiber for a length of around 60000 Kms will be taken up under Phase II in association with government of India.

     

    .   Dedicated Network Operations Center (NOC) equipped with all digital Headends providing Video (TV Channels, Data (Internet) and Voice (telephone) services also be commissioned by June 2016 facilitating all service providers to utilise the fiber grid with the model of infrastructure as a service & Platform as a Service.

     

    .   It is planned to enrol the LCOs as Last Mile Operators (LMOs) to provide services to households connecting to Fiber Grid PoPs (points of presence) through their existing network.

     

    .   The MSOs can be enrolled as ‘multi service providers,’ offering Internet and TV services by connecting to NOC of Fiber Grid and delivering through last mile operators. 

     

    At the time of filing this story, the AP CM’s office was yet to receive a reply to the letter from Jaitley.

  • Catvision to install 200 headends by December 2016

    Catvision to install 200 headends by December 2016

    KOLKATA: Catvision, a manufacturer, re-seller and system integrator, which has installed more than 60 headends till now, aims to install around 200 more headends by the end of 2016 through its joint venture company Catvision Unitron.

     

    By looking at an additional 200 headends, the company is aiming at about 25 per cent share in the headend installation vertical by 2016.

     

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Catvision managing director Athar Abbas said, “We have installed more than 60 headends in locations like Guwahati, Dimapur, Sonipat, Dehradun among others till now. In phase III and IV, we are looking at a market share of 25 per cent. By December 2015, we are looking at 100 headends and another 100 by 2016.”

     

    Catvision signed a joint venture agreement with Belgian company Unitron Group NV to set up a 50:50 joint venture called Catvision Unitron in India. The company develops AV encoders for the cable television industry.

     

    Now the JV develops CATV digital systems and products with the latest world-class technology. Unitron Group NV of Belgium has years of experience in the state-of-the-art digital headend technology, and is one of the leading companies in Europe in providing solutions for TV distribution to multi- dwelling units and residential complexes.

     

    On the other hand, Catvision has experience in the CATV industry in India, a market that is migrating to digital technology totally by the end of 2016.

     

    “This joint venture with Unitron has enabled Catvision to become a leading player in India and surrounding countries in the emerging digital TV space,” Abbas said.

     

    As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the company aims to manufacture around 15 lakh STBs to be used in the third and fourth phases of cable TV digitization process in India.