Thai Samart to launch vehicle STB in 2015

Samart Engineering, the leading manufacturer of OEM TV antennas, satellite dishes and digital set-top boxes in Thailand will launch vehicle STB in 2015. The vehicle STB will enable customers to watch digital programs on the go, like SDMC’s vehicle STB DV5812-T. The Samart Engineering’s new vehicle STB will be available at about THB 1,000.

According to Thawee Udomkitchote, managing director of Samart Engineering, Samart Engineering plans to sell 900,000 digital set-top boxes this year and over 3 million digital set-top boxes next year. This year's low sales plan is mainly because of only 1.4 million households had redeemed the set-top-box vouchers distributed by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC)”, he added. The NBTC distributed the vouchers to 4.9 million households in the first phase in October and later on 28 November to another 1.7 million households.

Samart Engineering also plans to launch hybrid set-top boxes in 2015. The hybrid set-top boxes combine a digital TV tuner and an internet protocol TV system, like SDMC’s DV7904-T2. The new hybrid set-top boxes will probably at a price of THB 3,000 each.