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Wireless Federation » archive for 'IPTV'

Govt. signalled IPTV policy (India)

  • August 21st, 2008
  • 11:59 am

Government have cleared changes to the current channel down-linking guidelines to allow broadcasters to provide content to telecom service providers for Internet Protocol TV. This ensures  an insitutional policy framework for IPTV players. This has also paved the way for commercial roll out of the service. MTNL,BSNL and private players Airtel and RCom have IPTV service in their pipeline. IPTV is a cable TV delivery platform that uses high speed Internet connection to reach the customers.

Smart TV sevice for broadband and telephony subscribers (Pakistan)

  • August 19th, 2008
  • 10:51 am

PTCL instigated Smart TV, an IPTV service which will be available to broadband and telephony subscribers in a bundled package. Initially this service will be available to households in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad and over the time it will be extended to other cities.

Features of the TV service include:

  • Time-shifting
  • Parental controls
  • Video-on-demand
  • Wide range of music, sports, news, entertainment
  • Channel for children

Three bundles are available they are 0.5 Mbps for PKR 1,499, 1 Mbps for PKR 2,299 and 2 Mbps for 5,299. First five on-demand videos are offered free, and additional titles cost PLR 50 each. Customers have to buy a set-top box upfront for PKR 9,995.

Telefonica to test 3D IPTV service in Brazil before Spain

  • August 15th, 2008
  • 10:22 am

According to local reports, Telefónica plans to start testing a 3D IPTV service in São Paulo this year. This test will be done by using a TV supplied by Philips which does not require special glasses to view the 3D image. According to Raúl Ortega del Rio, Director of research branch Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo, With luck, We will start the tests in Brazil before Spain. This service will be offered in partnership with Brazilian pay-TV operator TVA.

According to the sources two companies plan to launch an IPTV service in Brazil together. Service will be offered to residents of the region of Jardins in São Paulo, as these clients are connected to a fibre optical network which has the transmission capacity to deliver 3D IPTV. This service is only possible with the specially developed Philips television, which currently costs around €18,000 which is the biggest challenge  for the service. Philips believes that the television will be much cheaper in the near future. “Today the technology is aimed more at corporate applications,” said Renato Secco, Director of the company’s Brazilian subsidiary. “Inside three or four years it will be much more accessible to the consumer,” he added.

Telefonica shows growth in IPTV subscribers

  • August 1st, 2008
  • 2:09 pm

Domestic Market share of Telefonica IPTV service is 13%. Spanish Telco reports that it put on another 22,513 new subscribers, actually down on the 32,307 recorded in the same period in 2007, and 65,471 in the first six months of 2008. Subscribers percentage  increase to 27.09% When we take the total number of connections considering Spain, the Czech Republic, Peru, Chile, Colombia and Brazil, Telefónica stand at over two million, an increase of 57.4% on the prior year, following net additions reaching almost 280,000. On the whole Telefónica benefited from the €143 million gained from the sale of its stake in Sogecable to take first half revenues to €10.331bn.

Ericsson-Liechtenstein sign network deal (Germany)

  • July 31st, 2008
  • 1:30 pm

For the expansion of ADSL network with the new VDSL2 technology, Ericsson has signed an agreement with Telecom Liechtenstein. As per the deal Ericsson will also provide support over the next three years. The deal will bring high-speed broadband to Telecom Liechtenstein subscribers across the country. VDSL2, based on Ericsson’s advanced EDA1200 product, enables Telecom Liechtenstein wide deployment of multiplay services e.g. voice, video and data as well as HDTV, IPTV, Video on Demand, high speed internet access and interactive gaming.

Trai recommendations accepted on IPTV (India)

  • July 28th, 2008
  • 9:13 am

The government has accepted the recommendations of broadcast tribunal Trai on Internet Protocol TV, setting the stage for faster growth of this new television channel distribution platform.
As part of the recommendations, the uplinking/downlinking norms would be amended to enable the broadcasters to provide signals to all distributors of TV channels, including IPTV service providers, once appropriate provisions are made in the policy.

IPTV segment has all the heavyweight players MTNL, BSNL, Bharti, Reliance Communications which have invested heavily in the network.

MTNL has already started the service. In the meantime, some of the service providers have experienced difficulties in getting television channels from the broadcasters at prices on which DTH service providers are getting in line with Trai’s determination of a-la-carte and bouquet prices on advisory basis.

To have a smooth flow of channels for subscribers, Trai has received a consensus from the broadcasters to adopt non-discriminatory price regime on the composition of bouquets and pricing of channels on a-la-carte and bouquets basis for IPTV services.

According to  ministry official  these steps should facilitate and expedite the conclusion of interconnection agreements between broadcasters and service providers to offer the services on competitive prices once appropriate provisions in policy are made by the government.

O2 to test IPTV service in UK (UK)

  • December 18th, 2007
  • 3:03 pm

O2 is planning to test an IPTV service in the UK at its broadband ISP Be, report The Independent and The Guardian. Salvadore Anglada, chief executive of Telefonica O2 Czech Republic, said the operator’s experience with IPTV in the Czech Republic is vital to how it tackles other countries. The operator currently has around 70,000 customers for the Czech IPTV service. He said that the launch of broadband in the UK this year was already influenced by its Czech operation in areas such as network management and technology. Existing content details in the Czech market with companies like Warner Bros, Paramount and HBO could also be extended to the UK. According to the Guardian, O2 will trial the service next year and could have a commercial launch before the end of 2008. Meanwhile rival Orange has held tests of its own IPTV service and is expected to launch in 2008, while Tiscali already has a TV service on the market.

   

Tiscali launches IPTV in Italy (Italy)

  • December 12th, 2007
  • 2:42 pm

Tiscali has launched its IPTV service in Italy. Tiscali TV will initially be available in Milan, Rome and Cagliari and gradually rolled out in the rest of Italy next year. To win over new customers, Tiscali is offering the TV service free to subscribers until the end of March. The service is a combination of IPTV and DTT, including video-on-demand, time shifting and an electronic programme guide. Over 50 channels are offered, including themed areas for children, music, cinema, short clips and user-generated content. The basic service costs EUR 17 per month, with themed content packages for children, music and catch-up TV with RAI channels available for EUR 4 each. The decoder, which is HD-ready, a remote control and Wi-Fi modem for connecting the TV to the PC cost EUR 4 a month, with installation free. All services are free until the end of March for new subscribers. Tiscali already offers an IPTV service in the UK and in Italy it will compete against ADSL operators Alice, Fastweb and Wind, which also offer IPTV.

   

Wind launches IPTV service with Alcatel-Lucent (Italy)

  • December 10th, 2007
  • 2:41 pm

Italian telecommunications company Wind has launched a commercial IPTV service based on Alcatel-Lucent’s products and the Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV and multimedia platform. Alcatel-Lucent’s IPTV service includes an IP/MPLS network infrastructure based on its 7750 service router combined with integration and implementation expertise. Alcatel-Lucent’s system integrates the Microsoft Mediaroom platform for TV service delivery. The service also utilises Alcatel-Lucent’s IP transformation centre resources. Wind’s IPTV service is available to 2 million households in its first phase and offers features like instant channel change, multiple picture-in-picture, personal video recorder functionality and video on demand.

   

KPN cuts prices in TV market push

  • July 18th, 2007
  • 3:46 pm

Dutch operator KPN has launched an offensive on the TV market, cutting the prices for its DTT service and re-branding its IPTV services. From the start of August the DTT service Digitenne will cost EUR 6.95 per month, down from EUR 9.95. The company is also introducing decoder rentals for the DTT service, with the first tuner free and additional boxes costing EUR 3 per month. The DTT service is now available to around 65 percent of Dutch households, with another half million homes to be added by year-end. Digitenne includes 23 TV channels and 19 radio stations and currently has around 300,000 subscribers. The IPTV service is now being given a full launch and re-branded as Interactieve TV from the previous name Mine TV. A basic package for the internet TV service has been introduced, costing EUR 9.95 for 50 TV channels and 75 radio stations. The Planet Pluspakket adds another 25 thematic channels, such as sport, music and documentaries and costs an additional EUR 9.95 per month; most of these were previously included in the basic package for a total cost of EUR 19.95. Football fans can get another four channels including live matches from the Tele2 Eredivise first division for EUR 9.95 per month.