Australian telco Telstra has selected French firm Netgem to supply the set-top boxes and software for its upcoming IPTV service called 'T-Box', which will offer live and video-on-demand content from its BigPond brand to its broadband subscribers.
The telco is initially conducting a customer experience trial of the service with a few hundred customers in the city of Melbourne, before launching the service nationally. It will offer content from the BigPond brand along with Australia's free-to-air terrestrial channels (in both HD and SD). The new set-top box features twin tuners for watching one channel whilst recording another, as well as time-shifting and PVR features.
"In developing the T-Box service, differentiation of both the product offering and user interface was critical," said Christophe Aulnette, MD of Netgem. "Using the suite of applications and APIs within our next-generation NetgemTV middleware platform, Telstra is creating a beautifully fluid and seamless user experience that integrates broadcast and broadband delivered content."
The telco has also announced the completion of an upgrade to its hybrid fibre coaxial broadband network in Melbourne, with nearly 1mn homes in the city receiving access to downstream speeds of up to 100 Mbps from December 1st.
