UNE-EPM launches IPTV in Colombia

July 30, 2008 - Colombian telco Une-EPM Telecomunicaciones has launched IPTV services in the capital Bogotá and also Medellin, according to local newspaper La República, becoming the country's first IPTV operator.

The President of Une-EPM Bogotá, Miguel Cardona, commented that the service includes 105 video and 50 audio channels, pay per view channels, parental controls, EPG and programme reminders. It also includes a video on demand store offering films, TV series, music concerts and karaoke, with films costing between COP 3,500 (US$ 1.95) and COP 4,700 and TV shows and karaoke titles costing COP 862, while an offer of unlimited downloads from the VOD store for one month costs COP 15,000. Subscription plans cost COP 90,000 to COP 244,000 per month in Bogotá, while starter tariffs in Medellin are COP 42,000 per month.

The President of the Une group, Horacio Vélez, said that during the first phase of the deployment the company will invest US$ 110mn and aims to reach between 300,000 and 500,000 users in its first year of service, expecting to reach at least 150,000 customers in Medellin, 40,000 in Bogotá, 50,000 in Pereira and another 50,000 in Manizales. Mr. Veléz added that Une does not wish to exceed the capacity of the network and due to expected high demand for watching the Olympic Games in digital quality, they will limit the number of subscriptions to a load the network can handle so as not to affect the quality.

The company also expects to offer a 20Mbps broadband connection in 2009, in order to to be able to offer multi-room services and high-definition programming. In this second stage Une will make new investments to bring services such as online shopping, personal video recording, email access, and on-screen mobile text messages and caller ID.