Multi system operator Hathway Cable and Datacom (Hathway) needs to invest Rs 500-600 crore for the second phase of digitisation, its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr K. Jayaraman, said. “We will look at various options to raise these funds,” he added.

The company has already pumped in Rs 300 crore for the first phase of mandatory digitisation, where households in New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai will have to move to digital formats by June 30.

“About 7.5 lakh of our subscribers have already installed set top boxes and we expect to upgrade about 2 million subscribers for the first phase of digitisation across Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata,” he said. About 8-10 million subscribers are expected to go digital in the first phase across all the four cities.

A chunk of Hathway's subscribers in the 38 cities that will fall under the second phase of digitisation, have already switched to digital cable, he said. “So we will be using these funds to convert the balance number of subscribers as well as look at newer cities,” said Mr Jayaraman.

The deadline for the second phase is March 2013.

The cable industry is awaiting the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) recommendations on issues like revenue sharing between local cable operators and multi system operators as well as the price and composition of the basic service tier, among others. Mr Jayaraman expects digitisation will gain momentum in the four cities once TRAI puts out its recommendations.

> meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in

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