MUMBAI: As India moves towards digitising phase III and phase IV areas, the number of digital TV homes in the country is set to double by 2020. According to a recent report launched by Digital TV Research, India will add 95 million digital TV homes between 2014 and 2020 to double its total.

According to the report, based on forecasts for 138 countries, the number of digital TV homes will increase by more than one billion between 2010 and 2020 to 1.65 billion – or up by 180 per cent. The total will climb by 134 million homes in 2015 alone.

Source: Digital TV Research Ltd

The ‘Digital TV World Household Forecasts’ report further points that the global digital TV penetration will reach 97.6 per cent of television households by end-2020, up from 40.5 per cent at end-2010 and 67.2 per cent at end-2014.

By 2020, 93 countries will be completely digital compared to only 17 at the end of 2014. About 124 countries will have more than 90 per cent digital penetration by 2020.

The number of digital TV households in Asia Pacific is slated to increase by 400 million between 2014 and 2020, with 93 million to be added in 2015 alone. The region will supply two-thirds of the 608 million digital TV household additions between 2014 and 2020. Sub-Saharan Africa will more than double its base over the same period, with Latin America nearly doubling its total.

Source: Digital TV Research Ltd

China will boast of 454 million digital homes by end-2020 – or 27 per cent of the global total – up by 169 million reported in 2014. Moreover, the report says that India is poised to overtake the US and claim the second place in 2015.

On the other hand, Brazil will take fourth place and Russia will be on the fifth spot by 2020. Indonesia, which stood at the 23rd position in 2014, will take a giant leap to settle at the sixth place, by adding 43 million digital TV households.