Alcatel/Microsoft chosen for T-Online Hungary’s IPTV pilot

May 15th, 2006 - T-Online Hungary, part of Deutsche Telekom and Hungary’s largest Internet access provider, has selected Alcatel to provide the service integration and Microsoft TV for the middleware (Microsoft TV IPTV Edition) for its IPTV pilot project, which will enter its public stage in the summer.

T-Online completed its technical lab trial for IPTV in January and recently completed its first field trial, which included 18 broadcast TV channels, VOD and PVR. A second, extended field trial is currently underway with 500 friendly users and more television channels.

“Alcatel’s unparalleled experience deploying video solutions for operators around the world, together with the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition platform capabilities, will allow T-Online Hungary to evaluate these new services quickly,” says Andras Tudos, chief information officer for T-Online Hungary. “This trial is an important first step toward offering our customer base dynamic new services like broadcast TV, VOD and interactive TV.”

According to Monika Maurer, president of Alcatel’s fixed solutions activities, “By partnering with Alcatel and Microsoft, T-Online will be able to deliver a better TV viewing experience, characterised by a more personalised and predictable experience for consumers. This agreement with T-Online Hungary is another example of the increasing demand we are seeing from operators around the world.”

Alcatel is involved in more than 35 IPTV/triple-play projects worldwide. Deutsche Telekom will deploy triple-play services in Germany, Spain, France and Hungary.