Managing away the hindrances of IPTV

by Ben Geller, Industry Marketing Manager, Motive, Inc.

There is little doubt that the next wave in TV broadcasting and services lies with internet protocol – and this presents a wonderful opportunity for service providers.

As predicted by Strategy Analytics, the number of people around the world using IPTV will grow to more than 20 million by 2008. However, as many providers are discovering, delivering IPTV services carries a number of risks as well as opportunities. The biggest risk is how the complexity of delivering IPTV could negatively affect service performance and ultimately customer adoption. Customers are accustomed to proven performance from incumbent cable and satellite TV providers and will not tolerate a less than perfect service from IPTV.

The move toward IPTV services is happening now because of fierce competitive pressures and enormous revenue opportunities telecom service providers can expect to see. However, this revenue potential could disappear quickly if customer service and the resulting user experience are not up to par.

Whether offering broadcast, multicast or unicast IPTV, service problems will inevitably arise, often requiring live assistance from a customer service representative (CSR). Based on historical data on rolling out new digital services like DSL and digital cable, providers can expect an average of two and a half support calls per subscriber within 30 days of IPTV installation. Fielding the resulting millions of calls would require vast staffing investment in addition to the huge capital investments already made to build the networks capable of supporting IPTV.

Clearly there are some big hurdles to overcome if next-generation IPTV services are to be profitable. Providers seem to recognise this fact. For example, the number of providers that have pushed back the delivery time of their IPTV offerings demonstrates that they may still be working to overcome such obstacles. However, there is pressure for them to deliver IPTV services to market as fast as possible. But those who don’t plan carefully to address the management and support issues may encounter more problems than they every imagined.

One of the big reasons for the expected surge in support issues related to IPTV is that delivering IPTV services is inherently more complex than merely providing a broadband connection. It demands a more sophisticated infrastructure that includes residential gateways for connecting the provider’s network to multiple devices in millions of subscribers’ homes. This technical complexity makes creating a compelling and efficient experience difficult, resulting in delays rolling out services and slow consumer adoption.