Airtel Unveils Converged Digital Entertainment Platform Ahead of Jio’s Home Broadband Launch

Airtel launched a converged digital entertainment platform, christened Airtel Xstream.

Bharti Airtel NSE 0.96 % on Monday launched a converged digital entertainment platform, christened Airtel Xstream to counter Reliance Jio Infocomm’s upcoming home broadband services that go commercial from September 5.
AirtelXstream will deliver diverse digital content, including Live TV, video, music, news, and sports across an OTT smart stick, internet-enabled set top box and handheld devices.

The Sunil Mittal-led telco’s postpaid customers who’ve opted for the Airtel.Thanks loyalty programme will “enjoy exclusive benefits on Airtel Xstream, including free access to premium content from the company’s content catalogue plus offers on a range of other services,” the company said in a media statement Monday .

“Airtel Xstream is India’s first converged entertainment platform that will cater to needs of a new generation of consumers who are looking for seamless and converge.

Airtel Xstream is India’s first converged entertainment platform that will cater to needs of a new generation of consumers who are looking for seamless and converged entertainment across multiple screens at home and on-the-go,” Adarsh Nair, Chief Product Officer, Bharti Airtel, said in an official statement Monday.
Airtel Xstream, he said, will combine one of the widest entertainment catalogues, including hundreds of satellite TV channels, tens of thousands of movies and shows in English, Hindi and multiple Indian languages, millions of songs, plus access to all the popular OTT entertainment apps on one platform.

“It will enable customers to access all this content across the screen of their choice – TV, PC, and smartphone with a unified user interface,” said Nair.

Airtel’s latest digital entertainment-related announcements come on the heels of Reliance Jio’s plans to roll out home broadband services later this week, with plans ranging between Rs 700 and Rs 10,000 a month. Experts have said Jio’s promise of a free high-definition TV and a set top box for people opting for its annual broadband plans as part of its Welcome Offer could unleash another wave of disruption in the telecom and DTH markets.

September 02, 2019