HDTV Reviews

Even before subscribers could grasp what triple-play convergence was all about, it morphed into quad-play but, spare me a byte, isn’t it multi-play now? Nowhere is technological transformation as rapid as it is in telecommunications, with service providers facing the challenge of embracing the change to enhance revenues and engineer growth.

Triple-play services fundamentally spin around voice, data and video offerings in convergent packages that include high-speed Internet, telephone and TV, with quad-play getting that extra punch through mobile telephony. But in an environment where challenges multiply and technology keeps pace with it, even quad-play is too limiting a description. Hence came the all-encompassing term of multi-play, spanning multiple converged permutations within the three key areas of communication. This gives broadband subscribers the ability to receive a suite of services with only a single connection.

IPTV (Internet Protocol Television), though still in its infancy, is at the heart of this evolution, leveraging broadband connections to deliver a range of video services such as high-definition TV (HDTV) and video-on-demand (VoD).In a nutshell, with IPTV, broadband subscribers will be able to receive high-quality content on their television sets using a set-top box with the Internet Protocol (IP) serving as the transmission mechanism.

Clearly, consumer entertainment is a strategic component of this multi-play bundle. Video over broadband is the engine that is set to power growth for telephone service providers, applying pressure on cable and satellite TV operators to revisit their strategies and get inventive. But it is not all about movies as IPTV possibilities are endless and can involve a slew of high-quality digital content — video conferencing/streaming, live/interactive TV, digital video recording, HDTV, gaming, video-based distance learning, video-blogging, instant messaging from the TV and what not!

Given that IPTV involves a fusion of the Internet and television, companies with proven experience in IP networking can be counted upon to reduce the complexity involved in the delivery of video in both fixed and mobile environments. While talk of IPTV and interactive TV has been in the air for the last few years, it is only now that telcos are beginning to place their bets on it.

But why will they want to invest on IPTV that currently has less than 10 million subscribers worldwide? This is simply because the potential for growth is huge as IPTV services are typically delivered on TV sets, which are the primary source of entertainment and information for most subscribers.

While the current subscriber base is small, more than 240 carriers are offering IPTV services. Also, research firm Infonetics anticipates the number of users to skyrocket to 53.7 million subscribers, yielding $44 billion in service revenue by 2009. ABI Research is even more upbeat, estimating that there will be around 120 million subscribers by 2010.

Importantly, video is a critical field that can help them offset the erosion in their revenues caused by intense competition for core residential voice services and keep churn at bay.

So, with cable operators already offering voice services, IPTV will signal pay-back time for telcos by stepping onto the turf of the former. While telcos can largely utilize their existing infrastructure for delivery of IPTV services, one question uppermost will be their capacity to cope with bandwidth requirements. But some of the latest compression technologies in the marketplace are helping them deliver high-quality MPEG-4 (Moving Picture Experts Group, a digital video compression/encoding standard) transmission and measure up to this challenge.

With a digital culture that is evolving rapidly, IPTV can offer viewers a unique multi-faceted experience, spanning diverse areas of entertainment and information, delivered on what not too long ago was described as the idiot box. This can be at the connected home, at work, on the move or even in the sky as Singapore Airlines chose to demonstrate when it launched its IPTV services on select flights last year. Some telcos in Europe, the US and even in Asia are leading the charge in IPTV and while the response so far may not have been overwhelming, they have no doubt that the future vests with it amid an environment of slumping ARPU (average revenue per user).

Among the many who have plumped for IPTV are Hong Kong Broadband, PCCW (Hong Kong), Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan), Softbank/Yahoo BB in Japan, FastWeb (Italy), China Netcom, Shanghai Media Group/China Telecom, Telefonica (Spain), SBC/AT&T (US), SureWest, Comcast, British Telecom, France Telecom, Verizon, Telecom Italia and Time Warner Cable. Many of them are already delivering IPTV.

As you can see, many Asian service providers are already tapping into the potential offered by the emerging IPTV phenomenon. While the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) may currently have only around one million IPTV subscribers, research house IDC estimates it to swell to more than 20 million by 2009. l