Ericsson has equipped Tata Sky, the Indian DTH operator, with a head-end upgrade that enables it to launch HD channels and also increase its SD channel offering. The Ericsson solution achieves dramatic bandwidth savings that allow the launch of multiple new services for 5 million Tata Sky connections.
The deployment of Ericsson’s EN8190 MPEG-4 AVC HD encoder at Tata Sky has enabled it to offer its subscribers many HD channels. Tata Sky has also deployed Ericsson’s EN8100 MPEG-2 SD encoder, which has allowed it to increase its SD channel capacity without the need for swap-out of legacy MPEG-2 consumer STBs; this has been achieved by a combination of encoding improvements and other system wide optimizations.
“With Ericsson’s head-end, we have an advanced solution that dramatically increases the number of channels our subscribers can receive, as well as enabling us to now offer high definition programming to enhance the viewing experience,” said Yigs Riza, CTO,Tata Sky, in a statement. “The bandwidth savings that we achieved through the EN8100 were essential in being able to deploy these services. We were delighted to benefit from Ericsson’s expertise and experience in delivering high performance television solutions.”
“This deployment marks an exciting development for Tata Sky and for the Indian television market,” said Eric Baron, Head of EMEIA Region, Solution Area TV, Ericsson. “Viewers now have access to a top range of programming in HD, as well as an even greater variety of SD channels. The EN8100 enables all this to be achieved in the same number of encoders, maximizing the efficiency of both Capex and Opex.”
