China: SMG and Alcatel

Alcatel and Shanghai Media Group, one of the most prestigious media groups in China, have announced (July 2005) that the two companies have jointly set up an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) lab in Shanghai to drive the commercialization of IPTV services in China.

The initiative is the first of its kind in China, combining the strengths and expertise of a content provider and a telecom equipment supplier. The lab has become an integral part of Alcatel's Asia Pacific IPTV Solution Center managed by Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel's flagship company in China.

In the Lab, Alcatel integrates SMG's broadcast content and head-end equipment with Alcatel's end-to-end IPTV service delivery architecture, as well as terminals to simulate a complete network environment for developing, validating and test-running IPTV services.

A joint team, comprised of IPTV experts from both companies, will work together to develop solutions that are critical to the delivery of IPTV services to end users, such as digital rights management (DRM) solutions, a broadcast control management platform, content integration and service management platforms tailored to the needs of Chinese service providers. In addition, the joint team will carry out in-depth studies on various business cases for IPTV so that comprehensive consulting services can be provided to help operators launch profitable IPTV services.

"Operators all over the world are either offering video services - or actively investigating their deployment - in addition to their voice and data services. China sees exponential growth in the number of broadband users, creating profitable opportunities for operators to go into the IPTV business," said Michel Rahier, in charge of Alcatel's global fixed communications activities. "As the world leader in broadband access, Alcatel is committed to working closely with different players in the IPTV ecosystem to create a favourable environment for operators to deliver user-centric broadband services."

"We are honored to partner with companies like Alcatel to facilitate the IPTV development in China," said Li Ruigang, President of SMG, "IPTV deployments will drive the broadband industry of the future. With the recent award of China's first IPTV license to SMG by the Chinese government, we have complete confidence in bringing innovative content services to end users through our partnerships"

For more information please vist http://www.alcatel.com or http://www.smg.sh.cn/english/