Chinese cable television and broadband equipment maker Shenzhen Coship Electronics Co Ltd is planning to have a facility for set-top box manufacturing in India.

Coship is among the major companies that export set top boxes to India.

“We are planning to make an acquisition in four months and set up a set-top box manufacturing facility with a capacity to make 2.5 lakh units a month,” Vipan Kumar Sharma, Country Manager, India, Coship, told Business Line .

He, however, did not disclose any investment figure for the proposed manufacturing facility.

According to market sources, the facility should entail an estimated investment of nearly $15 million.

Sharma said the company’s cost to produce one set-top box would be around $21.

According to him, the company is looking forward to supply nearly 50 lakh (5 million) set-top boxes in the country by December this year.

Rising demand

Sharma added that the demand for third and fourth phases (municipal and rural areas) to be completed by December, 2014 should be a growth driver for the company in India.

The company will employ about 1000 workers at the unit in India. Coship’s manufacturing unit may be located at a place near Delhi or a city in South or West India.

Reportedly, Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials had said the third and forth phases of digitisation in the country would require 7.5 crore (75 million) set-top boxes.

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