HONG KONG: Asia's top 50 pay-TV platforms have a combined customer base of 111 million, reports Media Partners Asia (MPA), a 12-percent year-on-year gain, with India and Indonesia identified as the key growth markets.

In total, Asia's top operators added 11.9 million subs to reach 111 million; without India and Indonesia, it would just be a 3.7 million gain to reach 66 million subs, a 6-percent growth rate. According to MPA, India contributes five percentage points to regional growth; Indonesia, one.

"India's first phase of digitalization gets underway on November 1; we are positive on the process and see a significant boost to digital subscriber growth and ARPUs across DTH and cable platforms," said Vivek Couto, MPA's executive director. "Ex-India, Asian pay-TV subscriber growth has been driven by a strong year for market leader MNC Sky Vision in Indonesia; robust gains for Astro in Malaysia; decent gains in the Philippines and Vietnam; and acceleration by DTH and IPTV operators in Korea."

MPA points out that 94 million subs will have at least one digital set-top box in the home, of which 14 million will subscribe to HD services, notably in Australasia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Korea and Taiwan.