KOLKATA: Assam-based multi-system operator (MSO), Axom Communications and Cable, has signed an agreement with telecom major Airtel for one year. The main objective of this is to have better bandwidth and reach in all the seven north eastern states, where the company operates.

Currently, the MSO boasts of around six lakh cable TV connections in Assam including the lower and central parts of the state. It had installed a digital headend in 2009 and had laid down the fiber connecting around 250 kms from three sides of Guwahati, the commercial hub of Assam.

Axom Communications and Cable director Sanjive Narain said that this bandwidth would easily help in connecting all the seven north eastern states. “Before the cable TV digitisation starts in full swing in phase III and IV, we have already finished 60-70 per cent of the work in Guwahati,” he added.

“Out of the six lakh connections, more than 70,000 cable homes have been converted into digital signal even before the digitisation process has started in the state,” he explained talking about Guwahati.
“Fiber network connectivity work is on in other states like Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya to name a few,” he further added.

The company has around 10 analogue headends and one digital headend in total, informed Narain.

It should be noted that Assam and other north eastern states are likely to digitise their cable TV homes in the phase III and IV of digitisation. “Right now the process has not started in the true sense, but the industry is getting ready,” he said.

With a terrain where cable cannot reach easily, there is a sizeable penetration of DTH in this market. “We will convert a DTH home into cable TV home by giving a lucrative option to consumers,” he concluded.