MUMBAI: DALVI will be the conditional access system vendor for RPG Netcom Ltd, the Kolkata-based multi-system operators (MSOs), which is part of the RPG group. 
RPG Netcom will install the DALVI analogue CA system from the UK Company in conjunction with Catvision Products Ltd, the exclusive distributors for DALVI in India, states an official release.
"The system will be fully operational and ready well before the 14 July CAS deadline," DALVI business development manager Lewis Zimbler is quoted as saying in the release.
Currently, DALVI systems are deployed in over 25 countries internationally, says the release. It informs that, in a price sensitive market like India expensive digital systems offer only one-way compatibility and none of the value added services of high-end digital boxes.
Massive investments in digital head ends and up-gradation of current analogue cable networks before digital CAS can roll out are some of the other major barriers to digital systems. Even mature cable markets like the US, Europe and Taiwan have only 25-30 per cent penetration of digital subscribers after 5-10 years of introduction.
"Subscribers are going to demand 24x7 performance from their Set Top Boxes, while operators and MSOs will not compromise on 'security' - the key element that ensures a box cannot be 'hacked' or pirated," Catvision Products Ltd director Sudhir Damodaran, is quoted as saying in the release.
The Kolkata cable market has over 1.2 million cable homes and estimates are that the first year penetration of set top boxes could exceed 40 per cent of the total market.