Japanese telcos and tech vendors team to standardise IPTV specs

June 25, 2008 - A number of Japanese telecoms providers and technology vendors have clubbed together to unify the technical standards for IPTV services in the country, with the first compliant devices expected to emerge by March next year.

Telecoms companies Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), KDDI and Softbank BB have teamed together with technology vendors including Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Toshiba, Sharp and Hitachi , as well as the country's five major commercial TV broadcasters and public broadcaster NHK. The companies expect to draw up unified standards by the end of this August, and plans to urge local IPTV operators and consumer electronics manufacturers to develop compatible technologies and equipment.

Sony, Matsushita and other companies expect to start selling the first flat-panel televisions with built-in IPTV receivers compliant with the new standards by the end of March 2009. The forum is also expected to pitch its standards to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and other global bodies for use worldwide, with the help of Japan's Ministry of Communications. The number of Japanese subscribers to broadband-based communications services reached a reported 28.73mn by the end of the first quarter of this year.