Though it is a very late reply may be useful to somebody.
This box will work without active DTH subscription.
I bought this box with one month subscription during launch and never recharged becoz of the favourite selection options.
Just uninstalled 4 apk by adb commands and using this as a Android settop box with all OTT ,chromcast fully working for more than a year.
Installed Tivimate and getting all Indian channels IPTV at a lesser cost .(INR100 per month for 3 users) for my 2nd TV.
buddy do not delete default system apps as it might create some functionality issue later on as they r sometimes inter linked or connected. Also airtel might not give service support if default apps settings r fiddled with