Telecom Majors Log Onto Iptv

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NDTV Profit

Friday, July 03, 2009

Telecom majors like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communication, MTNL and BSNL have battled in the direct-to-home space and the action is moving to Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service.

With revenues per user for fixed line telephony falling every year, telecoms want to provide additional value-added services to their customers and IPTV seems to be the next big thing.

While MTNL and BSNL together have around 20,000 users, sources at Reliance Communications claim that it will launch with a customer base of around 15,000 users.

Mahesh Prasad, president of Reliance Communications, said, "We have completed the pilot and you will hear from us soon."

Experts say with the entry of RCom and with more players like Videocon planning to enter the space, there is bound to be a price war and the existing IPTV service providers are already gearing up.

BSNL and MTNL IPTV set-top-boxes are available on rental basis while Airtel users are charged around Rs 4,000 for the set-top-box. Sources tell NDTV that RCom plans to charge Rs 7,000 per set-top-box, but with new entrants, even the old players are looking at increasing rates.

Industry players feel that pricing is one of the major drawbacks of IPTV service, but the cost can only come down once the volumes don't increase.

K S Choudhary, MD of Aksh Optifibre, said, “IPTV can provide a lot of value added services, which can benefit customers. Till these issues like video on demand, interactive education, a delayed relay of programming are not addressed, the real power of IPTV will not be felt. The regulatory issue should take care of this so that implementation is easier for IPTV.

Meanwhile, telecoms are looking at delivering interactive video services over existing infrastructure. The operators and content providers are coming together to deliver value added services, but the industry is still evolving standards. Will IPTV take off in India—is the big question.