France Telecom set to launch IPTV in Spain, UK and Holland with operations based out of Paris

Brimming with confidence from the success of MaLigne TV (200,000 subscribers), the French incumbent plans to take on Telefonica, cable operator ONO, Spain’s consolidated satellite industry and the new DTT

France Telecom, whose Malign TV video-over-DSL service in France has over 200,000 subscribers, is set to launch IPTV services in Spain and the UK this year with a further four international markets to follow.

France’s incumbent telecoms operator was unavailable to comment on speculation that it plans to use its Wanadoo ISP business in the UK but brand the video service as Orange TV. Spain is the company’s number one target for an international IPTV deployment because market conditions there are considered to be the most favorable in Europe. The UK launch is scheduled for the first half of the year. France Telecom also plans to move into Poland by the second quarter 2006, and later the Netherlands. France Telecom is also planning launches in Mauritius, Senegal and the Ivory Coast. France Telecom plans to operate all its international IPTV operations from Paris and is expected to use technologies it is already familiar with through MaLigne TV.

Sofrecom, the group’s consultancy company, could play an important part in this international expansion. The move into Spain, assuming it is via the company’s Wanadoo subsidiary, will pitch the company against Spain’s incumbent telco Telefonica, which launched its Imagenio television and VOD package in November 2004. Telefonica had 200,000 television subscribers at last count (December).

The other main competition comes from cable operator ONO, which merged with its cable rival Auna last year to create a 1.7 million subscriber company offering tripleplay services including 4Mbps broadband. The combined ONO/Auna reaches 80 per cent of Spain including all major cities. The Spanish satellite market has also been consolidated to one platform - Sogecable’s Digital+/Canal+, while DTT has also re-launched.