China’s Huawei top in India’s TV set-top box market

Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer Huawei is leading the growing set-top box (STB) market in India as consumers make the shift to digital TV.

In 2011 Huawei was the leading STB vendor in the country with a 24 percent share of the market. British company Pace followed in second place with 12 percent market share said analyst firm ABI Research in a report released May 21.

Set-top boxes made by Chang Hong, Cisco, and Skyworth are also popular with consumers in India.

Close to 70 percent of STBs sold within the country are imported from foreign manufacturers -- the majority of which are made in China.

The percentage of locally made STBs is expected to rise in the near future as the Indian government pushes consumers to switch over to digital TV before December 2014 as part of its cable TV digitization policy.

"The cable TV digitization, mandated by the government, will spur set-top box shipment increases in India for the next several years," said Sam Rosen, principal analyst at ABI Research.

Broadband India Magazine reported that Namrata Sharma, a trade analyst with Pioneer Investcorp said the Indian cable industry is the third largest in the world after China and the US. Pioneer Investcorp found that 148 million homes in India have a TV, up from 120 million in 2007 in its recent cable and satellite industry market survey.

ABI forecasts India's set-top box shipments to reach 19.3 million during 2012.