Himachal Futuristic Company (HFCL) is in plans to enter the local broadcasting equipment segment.
It is in parleys with a private broadcasting firm for supplying equipment and providing turnkey solutions.
It will also lay greater stress on its core competencies _ manufacturing telecom transmission and access products, and delivering turnkey solutions to telecom and broadcasting firms.
More From This Section
"HFCL will be looking to provide broadcasting equipment once the sector opens up. We are preparing to capture the initial boom," said HFCL executive director Arvind Kharbanda.
It plans to provide analog amplifiers in the high range of more than 550 Mhz as well as digital amplifiers. It will also target the direct-to-home (DTH) TV market once it is permitted.
The firm has already tied up with Austria-based Hirschman for providing turnkey solutions in the cable TV business. Kharbanda said, "This 3-month old joint venture will also help us in the broadcasting segment for turnkey contracts."
Currently, HFCL has manufacturing units at Solan and Goa, which are backed by strong research and development facilities. These plants, which are 100 per cent export units, manufacture and assemble multiplexers, and digital line concentrators.
Kharbanda said, "We will initially invest Rs 150 crore for manufacturing broadcasting equipment.
The manufacturing units will be the same since these very units already have 80,000 sq feet. The R&D will also not differ much for this business."
The company is confident of raking in a revenue of Rs 10 crore from the domestic market in the first year of operations.
At present, it earns a revenue of around Rs 100 crore from exports.
Meanwhile, Himachal Futuristic will also focus on its manufacturing activities for the telecom sector, which include producing transmission and access equipment for both wireless and wireline segments.
According to Kharbanda, "Himachal Futuristic's major future business strategies are broadbasing customer base in telecom, including exports, enhancement of product-range, further strengthening of R&D and engineering capabilities and increasing turnover from in-house developed products."
It has already bagged Rs 450-500 crore worth of orders from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the private sector. The contract would be completed by 1999, said the executive director.
The company manufactures all telecom products including the WLL, GSM handsets, fibre optic cables and switches.