Airtel Digital TV, the DTH arm of Bharti Airtel, has launched its made-in-India set-top-boxes (STBs) for HD users.

The made in India STBs will be available in HD to begin with, said Airtel in a statement. All STBs – both HD and non-HD will be manufactured in the country. The company did not share details about the availability of Indian made STBs for non-HD users, which form the largest DTH users across the country.

Shashi Arora, CEO, DTH/Media, Bharti Airtel, said: “With this we aim to reduce our imports and thus help drive employment and growth within the country. In the long run, cost synergies will further help us extend more benefits to our customers.”

The HD set-top-boxes will be manufactured at a facility at Ranjangaon in Pune.

Based on an in-house design by MyBox Tech, a subsidiary of Hero Electronix and ST Microelectronics, the Airtel Digital TV HD+ set-top-box will offer features such as full HD 1080p support, MPEG-4 video with Dolby Digital Plus Surround Sound; 5X picture clarity; unlimited recording (via USB-drive); and USB-based Wi-Fi connectivity for On-demand, Anytime TV and Interactive Gaming.

[email protected]