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| Edited By: Vivek Seal |Source: |Updated: Sep 15, 2017, 02:34 AM IST
NEW DELHI: Cisco Systems Inc, a network equipment maker, said its Indian arm is targeting sales of a “couple of million units” of set-top boxes to trigger growth in the consumer business.
The company may set up a manufacturing facility in the country to cut down on costs, its top official in India said.
Cisco did not provide financial details of the proposed manufacturing unit. “We expect to sell a couple of million set-top boxes in India in FY08-09,” said Rajesh Chainani, senior vice president at Cisco Systems, India & Saarc.
Cisco is also working on applications through which it can have “advertisement insertions” in video broadcast through boxes. This would help service providers increase their average revenue per user (Arpu).
“We want to push the prices of set-top boxes in India down … we are planning to set up a manufacturing unit in India to cut costs … the unit will also cater to other emerging markets in the region,” Chainani said.
Cisco’s consumer business contributes about 29% to its telecom business here, and is growing at “100% year-on-year”.
The Nasdaq-listed firm generates about 11% revenue from the Asia-Pacific region, including India. It posted total revenue of $34.9 billion in FY07.
The market for set-top boxes is huge in India, as only 22% of the 70-million cable TV sets market uses the boxes. Cisco is targeting the huge market share opportunity available.
The company announced in 2005 that it would invest $1.1 billion in India over the next three years, and all its current plans are part of that umbrella investment.
