In the fray are several big brandnames including BPL and Onida.

Studies are on to fathom the market size for set-top boxes and also arrive at price points, said industry sources. The company is also in the process of stepping up efforts to market its broadband equipment in the country.

Confirming that talks were on with several TV manufacturers for making set-top boxes in the country, Scientific Atlanta business development manager Arvind Khungar said the company expects to enter into an exclusive manufacturing tie-up with a TV maker early next year. Khungar was, however, not willing to name the TV manufacturers which have shown interest in making the boxes in the country.

Khungar said with more and more channels going on pay, demand for addressable systems was expected to boom in the coming months.

Scientific Atlanta has been in the business of manfucturing set-top boxes and claims to have 30 per cent market share worldwide. Sale of set-top boxes constituted approximately 34 per cent of company's revenue in 1998.

However, the company has no plans of entering the manufacturing arena in India, said Khungar. To begin with, the company will look to transfer technology for making analogue set-top boxes in the country. The company is yet to decide whether it will go for sub-contract manaufacturing using the Scietific Atlanta brandname. The other option the company is mulling is joint co-branding with TV manufacturer. "The future plans will depend on market studies that are currently on," Khungar said.

The company recently appointed several distributors in Delhi and Mumbai to market broadband broadcast equipments in the country. Scientific Atlanta already has a manufacturing and service arrangement with government-promoted Punwire Ltd for broadband products.

The company has major presence in the VSAT and broadcast equipment business. The company is in the process of putting in place an uplinking station for several broadcasters in the country including Eennadu and Sun TV. Scientific Atlanta is also targetting category A internet service providers to set up gateway access. Offering internet through satellite is the other area the company is looking at in India, said officials.