Interview with Dr Abdul Razaque Memon, Director, Solution Marketing, Convergence Business Group, Alcatel-Lucent Asia Pacific

Dr Abdul Razaque Memon has held several senior positions in Sales and Marketing within Alcatel-Lucent before heading up Solution Marketing across the APAC region for the Convergence Business Group.  Alcatel-Lucent’s recent operations in the APAC region include the supply of an end-to-end IPTV solution to Singapore’s largest telecommunications operator, SingTel, and the company is currently involved in 40 different IPTV deployments worldwide with four large deployments in APAC.

ipTV News: What do you see as being the killer application for IPTV services in the near to middle future?

There is no one single killer application that can satisfy all end-users but requirements vary depending upon the geographic locations, end-user segments, age groups & etc.  For example, among kids and teenagers instant messaging is certainly one of the popular applications and they can chat and share content e.g. files, photos etc. with each other while watching TV or films.  For people of older generation, on the other hand, a simple and easy to handle menu for their daily communications are important.  IPTV enables this group of users to simply ride on the TV set and use its remote control for applications like video conferencing or even phone calls with other members of the family.  Operators are looking at new applications on top of the IPTV platform as the next steps to enhance people’s quality of living.

What other applications are around the corner that we might not yet have heard about, and that will be worth the investment?

Over the top of IPTV, you are opening up the doors for offering different types of applications, depending on the market.  Highlights of key features well adopted by operators in the region are as follows:

- Karaoke on Demand
Demand for karaoke applications is high in the APAC region for countries like Taiwan etc, enabling users to select songs and sing at home as if they were in karaoke bars.  Even better, the system can offer voice-recognition features to rate singing quality and award marks out of, say, ten.

- Online Banking
Installing an ATM card reader into a set-top box will enable users to connect with their bank over the TV and access their bank accounts carrying out banking transactions as if they are online.

- Community TV
TV experience is improved by allowing the end-users to manage and control voice services via the television set.  Subscribers can be notified of incoming calls, manage their own communications profile e.g. address book, call history etc., using the remote control.

- My Own TV
Operators can offer a set of tools for subscribers to easily share personal multimedia content with family and friends in an interactive TV environment.  Users are empowered to create their own “TV channel.”  Not only can individuals share home videos and digital photographs, local government, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as retail outlets can use this special feature to distribute compelling audiovisual content to their target audience via the TV.

- Target Marketing
Advertising in the telecom world is not a fee-based consumer service but a way to save consumers money, time, and offer convenience.  Operators can offer personalised, on-target advertisements catering to the audience’s interests. 

What feedback are operators giving once they have deployed an IPTV service?

- Value-added services to enhance customer loyalty
Competition in the APAC telecommunications market is keen and operators are under pressure to reduce operation costs while at the same time increase profit and market shares.  Retention of existing customer base is also one of the key agendas to maintain consistent recurrent businesses.

- New offerings mean new revenue streams
As operators look toward offering more data services on their networks, advertising creates a new revenue stream that could offset the heavy losses on voice businesses and it also serves as a way to support new creative content.

- Better interactive, search capabilities on TV programs
One of the advantages of Alcatel-Lucent’s IPTV service is that it offers ‘true’ VOD – in other words, you can search and have immediate access to the content required.  In the cable TV sector, it takes longer to search for content, and in the satellite world the user is given a list of options, and they then have to call up, for example Sky, and say “I want this”.  So the interactivity of IPTV is certainly one of its strengths.

- Flexible, customised features catering to market demands
In our deployment with SingTel [Singapore Telecom], they wanted one touch recording of live TV, which we helped them deliver.  The ability to enable the user to access different audio languages or dubbing is also very popular.  SingTel selected an end-to-end solution from Alcatel-Lucent for their ‘mio TV’ service.  While they currently have 33 SD and 3 HD channels, they plan to increase this as they gain more subscribers.

For operators with an owned quad-play infrastructure, what will be available in the future over a truly converged network, and will be worth the investment?

Alcatel-Lucent is working to develop a platform that offers both IPTV and mobile TV, and we plan to support content on any of the ‘3 screens’ [TV, mobile and PC].  This can include PVR scheduling over the mobile, the ability to ‘carry’ a programme with you from the TV to the mobile when you leave the house, PDA messaging to or from the TV, and the option to access an Electronic Programme Guide on the mobile device and watch a short clip before deciding whether to schedule a recording.  We aim to optimise end-user experience by securing “instant” full coverage at all times while handling maximum number of channels, delivering a truly mobile solution to the end users.  Thus, personal enjoyment and self-orientated entertainment TV services are ensured and end-users can be connected anytime, anywhere and with any content at their command.