Smart Telecom plans to soft-launch IPTV service next month

March 27, 2008 – Irish telco Smart Telecom has revealed that it plans to carry out a soft-launch of its new IPTV service next month in locations close to the 37 unbundled exchanges where it currently offers broadband.

The new service will offer over 100 TV and radio channels to a footprint of 550,000 homes across Ireland.  Features are expected to include time shifting and the display of incoming telephone calls on the TV set.

“We’re looking to launch the service to our existing customer base in April,” said Pio Murtagh, COO of Smart Telecom.  “We will begin with a soft-launch where we will select customers closest to the exchanges or who are on the smaller copper loop closest to the exchange and once we’re happy with the quality of service, we will begin a general rollout.”

Smart Telecom has recently said that it was investing €2.5mn in a new MPEG-4 headend and middleware solution from French firm Thomson.