Telefónica to test 3D IPTV in Brazil

August 13, 2008 - Telefónica plans to start testing a 3D IPTV service in São Paulo this year, according to local reports, using a TV supplied by Philips which does not require special glasses to view the 3D image.

"With luck, we will start the tests in Brazil before Spain," said Raúl Ortega del Rio, Director of research branch Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo ('Telefónica Research and Development'). Telefónica will offer the service in partnership with Brazilian pay-TV operator TVA, which the Spanish telco is a shareholder in, following recent revelations that the two companies plan to launch an IPTV service in Brazil together.

Telefónica will offer the service to residents of the region of Jardins in São Paulo, as these clients are connected to a fibre optical network which has the transmission capacity to deliver 3D IPTV. The biggest challenge for the service is that it is currently only possible with the specially developed Philips television, which currently costs around €18,000. However Philips believes that the television will be much cheaper in the near future: "Today the technology is aimed more at corporate applications," said Renato Secco, Director of the company's Brazilian subsidiary. "Inside three or four years it will be much more accessible to the consumer."