SITI Networks Limited, an Essel Group Company and one of India’s largest Multi-System Operators (MSO), and Hinduja Group’s Headend in the Sky platform NXTDigital have announced a first-ever Infrastructure sharing agreement in the MSO space in the country.
The move, the first of its kind, will have two conventional competitors share Infrastructure, heralding a new era of collaboration in the digital platforms space. With this move, both companies will synergise and leverage their strengths to provide the best services to SITI’s customers.
This move is in line with SITI’s strategy of enhancing its operational efficiencies and providing high up-time and quality services to its customers across the country. Financially, this move will help SITI pare its connectivity costs and bring down its subscriber acquisition costs for new customers in some existing markets.
Cable operators
SITI will leverage the HITS infrastructure to deliver its signals to its Local Cable Operators (LCOs), thus providing its services to semi-urban and rural subscribers while also expanding its footprint across the country through satellite.
For this integration NXTDigital’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) vertical has worked with SITI Networks’ team to ensure testing and full compliance in using the already deployed technologies and systems of SITI, such as Subscriber Management, Conditional Access, and above all, using the existing Set-Top Boxes to provide services with the HITS platform wherever required.
For this integration, NXTDigital’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) vertical has worked with SITI Networks’ team to ensure testing. NXTDigital Limited Managing Director & CEO Vynsley Fernandes company is happy that SITI Networks, arguably India’s biggest and progressive MSO, has chosen to work with the company, sharing its HITS infrastructure to deliver their services in markets where conventional connectivity remains a challenge.
PaaS vertical
“Need of the hour is to consolidate the strength and this move is a right step in that direction. Our Platform as a Service (PaaS) vertical is the right step in this direction and we are sure this tie-up with SITI will be a landmark in the industry,” said Vynsley Fernandes.
While commenting on the tie-up, SITI Networks Limited CEO Anil Malhotra SITI has been focusing on enhancing its operational efficiencies.
“With the Government approving Infrastructure sharing in our domain, this tie-up with NXTDigital is a natural progression and helps us overcome the difficulties of a terrestrial network in some markets through the Headend In The Sky (HITS) approach,” said Anil Malhotra.
Anil Malhotra said the reduced costs coupled with a focus on operational efficiencies will help improve its customer experience.
“We do believe that more such infrastructure sharing options should be evaluated as it forms an integral part of the Government’s Digital India Strategy and would help in the spread of other services like Broadband to the last mile faster,” said Anil Malhotra.
