To tap the huge potential available in India, Simmtronics, the manufacturers of Tablets PC, Memory Modules, Motherboards, PC, are foraying into Set-Top Box (STB) segment by starting to manufacture Set-Top Box in India. They have plans to invest Rs. 30 crores to manufacture best-in-class STB’s at their plants in India.
According to the deadline set up by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the digitisation drive should cover the entire country by the end of this year, and this initiative of Simmtronics of local manufacturing will help in achieving this target as their STB will be cheaper by 10 to 15% compared to the existing boxes. Currently, the majority of STB’s are imported into the country by the leading service providers.
Simmtronics will be manufacturing the entire range of Set Top boxes both for the Cable and the Satellite platforms. The first product will be a STB with Wi-Fi Router which will make your current TV a Smart TV and helps you browse You-Tube, Google sites, Facebook etc. on your existing television at the comfort of your living room, said the company in its press statement.
According to Indrajit Sabharwal, Managing Director, Simmtronics, “We are looking for at least a 10 percent market share in Set-Top Box business in INDIA which will add minimum of Rs. 500 crores to Simmtronics revenue in 2015. Simmtronics plans to grow this business to very large volumes and intends to get a 25% market share in the next 2 years. Simmtronics has the technical capability to deliver world class products for the global market. We have been India’s leading manufacturers and our strategy is to bring the Indigenisation of Digitisation in India. Simmtronics always believes in Manufacture in India and Sell all over the globe.”
Simmtronics will be supplying STB’s at affordable prices so that more and more consumers could shift from cable connections, which is still preferred choice of majority of TV watching users. Simmtronics has already started discussion with the leading operators and has a forecasted order of over 1 million set top boxes to be delivered in the next quarter. Simmtronics also has plans to export STB in their existing international markets like Dubai, Africa, etc. Simmtronics is already manufacturing set up boxes for OEM suppliers in India.