NEW DELHI: Siti Cable Network has received the first tranche of Rs 810 million as part of the Rs 3.24 billion it is raising from promoter firms to fund digitisation and cut its debt.

The balance amount will be released in appropriate time as the multi-system operator (MSO) plans to expand and digitise its network.

Siti Cable had recently received approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to raise Rs 3.24 billion from promoter entities.

According to the approval, the company will issue 162 million warrants convertible into equivalent number of equity shares at a price of Rs 20 per warrant.

The total promoter shareholding after conversion of all the warrants will rise to 73.08 per cent from 63.43 per cent. The public holding will drop to 26.92 per cent from 36.57 per cent.

Siti Cable will invest in upgrading its digital infrastructure further and enter into newer strategic markets. The company believes that it is well poised to benefit from the ongoing digitisation implementation and penetrate the market at a faster rate.The company has implemented the first phase of digitisation of television signals in its key markets of Kolkata, New Delhi and Mumbai. In its Phase-II cities, the company is aggressively seeding the set-top boxes (STBs) to meet the deadline.

Subscriber billing and collection has been initiated in Delhi and Mumbai. The company said it has made significant progress on billing and collections in Delhi and "is making a good progress in Mumbai too".

In Kolkata the company claimed it has overcome the initial resistance and the billing has started since mid February for over one million subscribers.