IntelVision to launch cable TV in North Mahe on Saturday |08 October 2004

IntelVision's office is based at the ex-Sai Supermarket and will be open from 8.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on Saturday to receive its first clients.

Owned by an “international offshore company” based on the British Virgin Islands, according to the company's chief executive officer, Trishend Kambaran,  IntelVision is a home entertainment network offering cable television services featuring movies, documentaries, news, sports, lifestyle, music and kids programmes across more than 30 channels. The main source of the television channels is through the South-African based DSTV.

The company is currently offering three main packages with 15 channels in the “executive bouquet” at a cost of R250 per month, 30 channels at R400 for the “prestige bouquet” and 38 channels at R600 for the “extravaganza bouquet.”
 
Subscribers will need to buy a decoder and smart card at R1,400 to receive the cable television services. The fee will also include the cost to install the equipment in homes. The decoder will be sold with a one-year guarantee.

Speaking to the press on Thursday morning at the company's headquarters at Providence, Mr Kambaran explained that the initial launching of cable TV would cover only Beau Vallon and Glacis because the company was currently operating on limited resources.

Though the cable network covers 80 percent of Mahe, the company will require more time to sort out certain technical difficulties, he said, noting that the whole of Mahe should be able to receive connection over the next month.

Mr Kambaran said it would not be possible for people to purchase their own decoder overseas because it would not be fully compatible with IntelVision's cable TV system.

"The cable decoder with the type of data encryption we are using is very specific to the network we have in Seychelles and is manufactured by only two companies in the world,” he said. “The price we are offering (for the decoder) is very competitive."

He said that one decoder would only cover one television set. People with more than one television in the house will have to buy a decoder for each set.

The company, he said, was negotiating with the manufacturer to see if it could make decoders that could provide connections to a number of televisions at the same time.

Mr Kambaran also attempted to dispel the argument that the packages being offered were too expensive and that some would not generate interest.
"The demand is definitely there,” he said. “The interest generated by the presence of the company here is overwhelming, much higher than we initially thought."

Explaining the rates of the packages, he said the company has made substantial investments in the technology being used, speaking of the digital system, the cable network and the content of the channels, "and if you take into consideration all the investments we have made, the pricing is very reasonable."

Current DSTV subscribers, who receive channels via satellite, pay around $60 per month – or little more than R300 – for a bouquet with around 40 channels, some of which, like the full range of sports channels and some movie channels, are only available on IntelVision’s R600 extravaganza package. The DSTV package, however, requires payments in foreign exchange and the acquisition of a satellite dish.

The company has plans to introduce more packages from a minimum price of R100 which will be even more affordable to clients, Mr Kambaran said, also refuting claims that the packages being sold included free channels.

"There is no such thing as free-to-air channels,” he said. “For us to broadcast a channel we have to pay for it."

He said that clients' electricity meter numbers would be required to determine their location for connection via a satellite system.

IntelVision, he said, is owned entirely by foreigners and there are no Seychellois partners involved in the local operations. Mr Kambaran revealed that the company's business plan is to invest between US$10 million to US$12 million over the next two years in their operations in Seychelles.

He said that the company would not be repatriating any revenue gained from its operations here .

When asked if the company had received allocation of foreign exchange from a local bank for its operations, as reported in a local newspaper recently, Mr Kambaran said "the way we have done our operations here is just like anybody else. We haven't received any preferential treatment from any bank or the government."

Mr Kambaran added that he had read the allegations made in the newspaper about this issue, but said he did not want "to go into politics."

Asked if the company had received any concessions from government to set up its operations here, he said "this was not something specific to IntelVision."

He also announced that IntelVision would be venturing in the telecommunications industry in the near future.

"We are at the moment still looking into the feasibility of the business," he said.