Airtel Plans To Launch Xstream Smart Box And Stick

| Published: Thursday, August 22, 2019, 13:44 [IST]

Airtel is reportedly planning to launch a smart box and a smart stick under its new Xstream branding. The box will run on Android 9.0 and can be used to broadcast DTH, IPTV and OTT content.

Airtel Plans To Launch Xstream Smart Box And Stick

At the earnings call a few days back, the company's CEO Gopal Vittal intimated that he is happy with the way DTH business has progressed. He also shed light on Airtel's Xstream smart box.

According to the Android TV-Guide.com, the box will be manufactured by Technicolor. It has a 1.8 GHz quad-core CPU with Broadcom VideoCore V HW (V3D-510) as its GPU. It will feature 2GB of RAM with storage of 8GB of storage. However, there is no word on the pricing and launch date.

While "Airtel Xtreme Stick" will run on Android 8.0, it will allow users to broadcast content from OTT apps and watch live TV. It has been manufactured by Skyworth. Furthermore, the stick comes with 1.2GHz, quad-core CPU with ARM Mali-450 as its GPU. There will be 1GB of RAM and 8GB storage.

Airtel is also giving information on its official Wynk Music FAQ page. The page explains that the SmartStick offers Movies/TV shows across 14 languages, built-in Chromecast and more.

Airtel Rebrands OTT Platform Airtel TV To Airtel Xstream

Meanwhile, Airtel has renamed its mobile TV app to Airtel Xstream. The app offers more than 350 Live TV channels across genres as well as more than 10,000 movies and hundreds of TV shows in multiple Indian languages. The operator recently joined hands with TV18 and Turner India to improve its entertainment offering.

At present, the operator is sourcing content from top players such as Sony Pictures Networks India, ZEEL, Sun TV Network, Discovery India, Eros Now, Hooq, Hoichoi, ShareIt, Hungama, and ALT Balaji. It also offers Netflix and Amazon Prime Video content to select postpaid customers.

Our Thought

Almost all the companies are coming up with a new set-top box and smart stick ever since Jio has announced its plan to launch a 4K set-top box. So this move is also seems like a part of Airtel's strategy to give a tough fight to Jio and to attract more users, however, in the end, it all depends on the pricing.