By Shweta Dhadiwal
STMicroelectronics and Dish TV signed an agreement to focus on the Indian digital set top box (STB) market. Now, the company will provide highly integrated system-on-chip (SoC) STB decoder ICs—STi5189 and Sti7111, to power Dish TV’s latest digital STBs. The STi5189 is a cost effective solution that enables high volume, fast to market rollouts, while for high definition, ST is providing its STi7111 solution designed to minimise energy consumption while maintaining system performance. While explaining the uniqueness of the Indian DTH market, Yu Lee, regional vice president, GCSA, consumer segment, said, “The Indian DTH market has multiple players and very high growth rate.” He also added that the market experiences low average revenue per use (ARPUs) and in the Indian market standard definition zapper is the main value driver. Francois Guibert, executive vice president and president for Greater China and South Asia, GCSA, STMicroelectronics, said, “It is exciting to be working with a partner who owns a platform of 250 channels serving over 7.5 million subscribers and growing.” He believes that DTH will lead digital migration.
Jawahar Goel, MD, Dish TV, said, “We have used STMicroelectronics’ platform earlier, and we look forward to using there solutions for standard difinition as well as high difinition STBs.”