Bharti Airtel Launches Its Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV Service in India Powered by Broadcom(R) Technology
Broadcom's Advanced DVB-S2 and MPEG-4 Satellite Set-Top Box (STB)
Technologies Offer Airtel digital TV Subscribers a Better Overall User
Experience
IRVINE, Calif. and BANGALORE, India/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM)
, a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless
communications, today announced that Bharti Airtel, India's leading
integrated telecom services provider, has selected Broadcom's highly
integrated satellite set-top box (STB) system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions
to power its direct-to-home (DTH) TV services - Airtel digital TV -
marking Broadcom's first commercial satellite product launch in India.
With an exploding interest in DTH TV services, India's burgeoning
pay-TV market potential is expected to include 90 million subscribers
by 2012, according to In-Stat market research.
"Direct-to-home technology is emerging as the leading digital TV
transmission platform in India," said Mike Paxton, a Principal Analyst
at In-Stat, a leading market research firm. "Consumer demand for better
picture quality and advanced video services have become catalysts that
are driving demand for DTH pay-TV services throughout India."
To satisfy the growing market potential and demand in India for
satellite TV, Bharti Airtel selected the Broadcom(R) BCM7454 standard
definition (SD) satellite STB solution with integrated H.264, MPEG-4
and VC-1 video decoding, and the Broadcom BCM4505 integrated satellite
tuner and demodulator front-end solution. This selection of Broadcom's
DVB-S2 technology, which provides 30 percent greater capacity when
compared to the DVB-S standard, allows Bharti Airtel to offer
additional services, channels, and on-demand and interactive content
within the same transponder allocation, providing subscribers with more
television choices and a better overall user experience. Both the
BCM7454 satellite STB SoC and BCM4505 satellite receiver are currently
being deployed in set-top boxes to Bharti Airtel customers nationwide,
marking the company's foray into satellite TV services.
"We are very pleased to be working with Broadcom to deliver digital
satellite services to India's TV market," said N. Arjun, Executive
Director, Bharti Telemedia. "With the proliferation and increasing
demand for digital media content in India, we are focused on offering
advanced technology solutions that provide a better user experience to
the Indian digital television market."
India is an emerging market for DTH services with a large television
viewing population. Specifically, the number of DTH subscribers in
India is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 38.9
percent from 2007 to 2012. This includes 4.3 million DTH subscribers in
2007 that will grow to approximately 22.2 million subscribers by 2012,
according to In-Stat market research, and the Indian DTH market is
expected to capture 24.6 percent of the total pay-TV subscriber base by
2012. Bharti Airtel's selection of DVB-S2 and MPEG-4 technologies
positions Broadcom to benefit from the growing DTH demand in India for
next generation high definition (HD) set-top box and digital video
recorder (DVR) deployments. With significant research and development
centers in Bangalore and Hyderabad, Broadcom supports various global
business initiatives.
"We are excited to support highly integrated satellite STB solutions
that provide advanced services and reduce the overall STB cost for
Indian operators," said Dan Marotta, Senior Vice President &
General Manager of Broadcom's Broadband Communications Group. "We look
forward to our continued collaboration with Bharti Airtel to help
launch next generation satellite services for pay-TV customers in
India."
Availability and Pricing
The Broadcom BCM7454 standard definition satellite STB SoC and the
Broadcom BCM4505 satellite front-end receiver are both in production.
Pricing is available upon request to manufacturers of set-top boxes.
About Broadcom's Broadband Communications Group
Broadcom offers manufacturers a range of broadband communications
and consumer electronics system-on-a-chip solutions that enable voice,
video, data and multimedia services over residential wired and wireless
networks. These highly integrated silicon solutions continue to enable
the most advanced system solutions on the market, which include digital
cable, satellite and IP set-top boxes and media servers, broadband
modems and residential gateways, high definition and digital
televisions, Blu-ray Disc(R) players and recorders and personal video
recorders.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global
leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications.
Broadcom products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and
multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile
environment. We provide the industry's broadest portfolio of
state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions to
manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital
entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These
solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything(R).
Broadcom is one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor
companies, with 2007 revenue of $3.78 billion, and holds over 3,000
U.S. and 1,300 foreign patents, more than 7,500 additional pending
patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property
portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice,
video, data and multimedia.
Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and
research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be
contacted at 
+1.949.926.5000
or at www.broadcom.com.
Cautions regarding Forward Looking Statements:
All statements included or incorporated by reference in this
release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact,
are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are
based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our
industry and business, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions
made by us, all of which are subject to change. Forward-looking
statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipates,"
"expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks,"
"estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "potential,"
"continue," "ongoing," similar expressions, and variations or negatives
of these words. Examples of such forward-looking statements include,
but are not limited to, the potential market for pay-TV subscribers and
DTH TV services in India and our ability to launch next generation
satellite services in India in collaboration with Bharti Airtel. These
forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are
subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our
actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed
in any forward-looking statement.
Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in
connection with BCM7454 satellite set-top box SoC and BCM4505 satellite
receiver products include, but are not limited to:
-- general economic and political conditions and specific conditions in
the markets we address, including the continuing volatility in the
technology sector and semiconductor industry, trends in the broadband
communications markets in various geographic regions, including
seasonality in sales of consumer products into which our products are
incorporated, and possible disruption in commercial activities related
to terrorist activity or armed conflict;
-- the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer
orders and our ability, as well as the ability of our customers, to
manage inventory;
-- the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt
Broadcom's technologies and products in our target markets;
-- competitive pressures and other factors such as the qualification,
availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and
the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products;
-- changes in our product or customer mix;
-- the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume
sales;
-- the risks and uncertainties associated with our international
operations, particularly in light of terrorist activity, armed
conflict or political unrest
Additional factors that may cause Broadcom's actual results to
differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to those listed at http://www.broadcom.com/press/additional_risk_factors/Q42008.php.
Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form
10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and
Exchange Commission filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as
other important risk factors that could contribute to such differences
or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and financial
condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as
of this date. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly
any forward-looking statement, except as required by law.
Broadcom, the pulse logo, Connecting everything, and the Connecting
everything logo are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or
its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the
EU. Blu-ray Disc is a trademark of the Blu-ray Disc Association. Any
other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their
respective owners.
Broadcom Trade Press Contact
Dana Brzozkiewicz
Senior Public Relations Specialist
949-926-6367
danabrz@broadcom.com
Broadcom Investor Relations Contact
T. Peter Andrew
Vice President, Corporate Communications
949-926-5663
andrewtp@broadcom.com
Photo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060609/BROADCOMLOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk,
photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Corporate
CONTACT: Press, Dana Brzozkiewicz, Senior Public Relations Specialist,
+1-949-926-6367, danabrz@broadcom.com, or Investors, T. Peter Andrew, Vice
President, Corporate Communications, +1-949-926-5663, andrewtp@broadcom.com,
both of Broadcom Corporation
Web Site: http://www.broadcom.com/
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