Interview with Ericsson’s Eugene Sarmiento and TANDBERG Television America’s Christian Frenza

As this year’s IPTV World Forum Latin America kicks off in Rio de Janeiro this week, ipTV News caught up with Eugene Sarmiento of Ericsson and Christian Frenza of TANDBERG Television Americas (both speaking at the show) to get their thoughts on the region’s IPTV market.  Eugene is Head of Sales Development Content & Media for Ericsson, while Christian is Director of Solutions & New Market Development for TANDBERG Television in the Americas.

ipTV News – Has the IPTV World Forum Latin America 08 arrived at a good time for the IPTV market in Latin America?

Eugene: I actually believe so, yes.  Latin America is an expanding market, not only in terms of IPTV but also in DSL and cable, and I think together these will push things forward for the region.  We see a lot of potential.

Christian: This is an exciting market. Even prior to the merger with Ericsson [in 2007] we were looking at the region as offering a lot of possibility, and it now appears that we are seeing the “waking of a giant”.  We think that we are now in the right place at the right time.

Do you think that IPTV will become as popular in Latin America as it has done in other markets, such as Asia?

Eugene: I firmly believe so, although the takeup will probably be slower than for example in Asia and the US.  Besides Brazil, we also see a lot of potential in Argentina and Chile in particular.  We think that operators will increasingly start acquiring assets, ranging from cable operators to broadcasters.

Christian: I believe Latin America has the potential to become as strong a market as the more currently established ones you mention.  I think we are likely to see deployments from operators as well as large media conglomerates that will start acquiring operations, and together these will shape the market.

There have been a lot of news reports recently of Latin American telcos preparing to launch IPTV services – what do you think will be the main obstacles to be overcome?

Eugene: The biggest one is resolving regulatory issues – this is one of the major hindrances.  Apart from this, there will be the same sort of challenges for IPTV deployments here as in other markets, and meanwhile operators are making sure they are prepared.  They are busy lining up content partners and preparing to offer customers services such as video on demand, focusing on offering the right content with a good quality user experience.

Christian: Certainly regulatory agencies have created difficult obstacles for telcosbut these challenges are beginning to be overcome and once markets are opened there will be a chain reaction effect.  Meanwhile, operators aren’t standing still – they are learning about the market and getting ready to hit the ground running when regulatory issues are resolved.  They realise that they are going to be entering a competitive, mature market in pay TV, and offering a “me too” TV service won’t necessarily work.  They need to focus on differentiators for the end user, such as attractive content and navigation.

Eugene: Can I just add that another challenge will be defining the business case – operators are asking “how can I speed up my return?”  To answer that, they need to look at other markets – should they offer a basic service and build it up gradually, or leapfrog into offering converged services, which would then require looking into acquiring convergence technology.

What trends do you anticipate for IPTV services in Latin America?

Eugene: Well there seems to be a shift in power right now – traditionally, media companies have had the power to decide what consumers watch, and when.  Now however, with the advent of user-generated content, consumers are increasingly becoming producing consumers or “prosumers”.  Younger consumers, which we term as “Generation C” (for creativity, control..), will create new IPTV experiences as they produce and consume content, and require services customised to their needs.  Also we expect to see the use of more devices on the home network, such as PCs, mobile phones, PDAs…

Christian: I would say from my point of view, one of the key aspects is the personalisation of media consumption, through greater choice, personalising the consumerexperience and having more powerful navigation tools.  For example, more and more content is available, but that doesn't mean that I want to watch it.  It's about choice and personalising my experience with navigation tools and program guides.  Those preferences should follow me from device to device and platform to platform.  This provides an opportunity for operators to differentiate themselves.  The challenge is to find common standardisation – we need to derive technologies from common standards that all devices can adhere to.

Finally, what can conference delegates expect from your upcoming presentations and the event in general?

Eugene: What we’re going to talk about is what trends are arising in the TV industry – I will go through what consumers are looking for, and will then look at the challenges for IPTV deployments.  To make it all happen, I will also touch on standardisation and the work done by bodies such as the Open IPTV Forum that aims to ensure we are all heading in the same direction.  We will also be talking about the revolution of home entertainment and how operators can take advantage of this – offering services such as TV services anytime, anyplace, on any device.  Standardisation will be an extremely important part of that.

Christian:  As they kick off phase one of their deployments, operators are here to learn and, will be looking for solutions partners to take them to the next level.  They will be asking “how do I make my service compelling, and how can I make the business case work to ensure I get a return on my investment?”

For more details on the IPTV World Forum Latin America 2008 please click here