Hathway Cable & Datacom is likely to cumulatively seed 4.5 million set-top boxes (STBs) in at least 25 cities along with its joint venture partners, falling under the phase II of government mandated digitization. It has already seeded 1.4 million STBs in consumer homes across these cities.
The entity plans to spend around Rs 300 crore for the same. Hathway may not resort to equity financing and the funding for the second phase will be preferably done via debt and vendor financing. The multi-system-operator has a presence in 25 out of the 38 cities where the analogue cable will cease and the switchover to digital addressable systems is mandated by March 31, 2013.
