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Bharti chief Sunil Mittal told PTI in New Delhi that the company was in the process of finalising commercial arrangements for offering 'triple play', which is currently being extended to its fixed-line customers in Gurgaon on a pilot basis. "When we go into the final commercial mode which will happen in the next 4-5 months, then anybody who has an Airtel connection can get Triple Play," Mittal said.
The company currently has 15 lakh fixed-line subscribers and Mittal said these were expected to go up to 25 lakh by next year.
"We are connecting about 60,000-70,000 new connections (on fixed line) every month and this should take us to about 25 lakh by next year," he said.
Through its pilot in Gurgaon, where the company is offering the new service to around 500 consumers, which includes 40 TV channels, Bharti is trying to gauge market preferences.
Apart from testing the product, it is trying to get feedback on channel preferences, surfing habits, channel bundling and, more importantly, pricing. Mittal said Bharti planned to operate "like a cable operator" when it went full-throttle with the new services.
"We will take content from whoever sells it, on a revenue share basis. We will become like a cable operator," he said.
However, Mittal made it clear that the Bharti Group would not get into the business of developing content. "We will not build content. But rather, all content providers will be piped in through our system," he said.
Mittal said the new service, which would see customers installing a set-top box equivalent at their end, would also help bring in transparency on cable subscriber base. "It will give information on customers... whatever people are watching, trends, all would be available," he said.
Asked whether the company has signed any specific agreement with any cable distribution company, he said, "We are on trial and therefore no commercial arrangement has been worked out. They are also seeing how it is moving."
Mittal said investments for expansion into triple-play services would not be much. "It will be into head-ends and customer premises equipment. Our fibre and copper are already running. So you have to put the MSO at your head-end and take the pipe and feed from the content provider. On customer side, you need a STB equivalent," Mittal said, adding that the company could either sell the STB or bundle it into a package.
Investments for head-end equipment could be around Rs 20-30 crore (Rs 200-300 million), Mittal said. The company is already assembling STBs for DTH. "Currently we are just importing, assembling and selling in the market," Mittal said.