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Portugal Telecom companies begin launching IPTV; emphasis on multiple services like games September introduction in Cape Verde to be followed by PT launch in its home country by June 2007. The entire network infrastructure will be upgraded by the end of this year, followed by tests. By Branislav Pekic
The executive president of PT Comunicações, Rodrigo Costa, announced on September 11 that Portugal Telecom will launch an IPTV offer "at the end of the first half of 2007". He added that the entire network infrastructure will be upgraded by year-end 2006, with the first ground tests due to initiate soon after. The TV offer and the pricing has yet to be defined, but Mr. Nordeste told IPTV News Analyst that they plan to extend the triple-play concept to the multi-play concept, “permitting simultaneous access to numerous TV channels, movie-on-demand services and an unlimited number of other applications (tele-work, video-calls, videosurveillance, network games, among other things) over the existing telephone line. He explained that PT is still in a ‘preliminary phase’ of network design and the selection of technological solutions and human resources, adding that the business model will be announced by the end of the first quarter of 2007.
Portugal Telecom
On September 27, CVMultimedia, a subsidiary of Cabo Verde Telecom (CVTelecom) in Cape Verde (Africa), launched its IPTV service, thus becoming the first company of the Portugal Telecom group to do so. CVTelecom invested about EUR 2.8 million to offer a triple-play service with 21 TV channels, video-ondemand and broadband Internet service, over ADSL2+. The service will be gradually introduced throughout the island nation, initially on the islands of Santiago, Sal, São Vicente, São Nicolau, Boavista and Santo Antão and, later on, in Fogo, Brava and Maio. CVMultimedia estimates that around 11,600 subscribers will have installed the service by the end of 2007. A Portugal Telecom press release listed TV channels including TCV (Televisão de Cabo Verde), RTP África, TV Record, Rai Uno, BBC World, TV5, TV Galicia, Infinito, Fox Life, Fashion TV, Eurosport News, Euronews, Extreme Sport, TVE Internacional, CNBC, MCM, Lusomundo Premium and Gallery channels.
According to Paulo Nordeste, executive president of PT Inovação, the African country was chosen as the test bed since the size of the market overcomes scale problems and helps create a coherent business model. In his words, in Portugal there is still "a need for a major technological perfection, the definition of a business model and of a solid strategy in terms of content".
Mr. Nordeste explained that one of the advantages of this new system “is its complete compatibility with the systems installed in the telecommunications networks, permitting simple or mixed configurations with VDSL2, ADSL, ADSL2 and ADSL2+”, among others, used in the broadband offer over copper wires. The IPTV service in Cabo Verde uses transport and access infrastructure provided by Siemens Information and Communications Portugal.
Meanwhile, Portugal's biggest Pay TV operator, TV Cabo, isn’t standing still, having selected Cisco Systems’ CMTS equipment for its ‘IP Next Generation Network’ platform which will enable it to offer ultra high-speed Internet, VoIP and HDTV at speeds of up to 100 Mbps. TV Cabo is also upgrading its network infrastructure and is testing 25 Mbps connections in 1,000 households. |
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