For private telecom players like Reliance Communications and Airtel that are betting big on IPTV and WiMax, the race has begun even before the start-gun has been fired.
MTNL-Aksh to offer IPTV services with no monthly charge in Mumbai from April 1
MUMBAI: For private telecom players like Reliance Communications and Airtel that are betting big on internet protocol television (IPTV) and WiMax, the race has begun even before the start-gun has been fired.
The reason: while their projects are still at the trial-run stage, state-run players MTNL and BSNL are readying plans for an all-India presence after having launched their IPTV operations last year.
Sources said MTNL-Aksh Optifibre IPTV tie-up for Mumbai will come in as a bonanza for customers. For the first time, subscribers in Mumbai will be able to access 100 free IPTV channels with no monthly subscription from April 1. They can avail of the services for 12 months after making a one-time registration fee of Rs 500; for the set-top boxes, there’s a refundable deposit of Rs 3,000.
In Delhi, MTNL is targeting around 50,000 IPTV customers by December-end and has already roped in over 3,500 customers since the commercial launch.
J Gopal, executive director, MTNL, told DNA Money: “We have signed a deal with Aksh Optifibre as our second partner for Mumbai IPTV and there will reduction of tariffs.”
Gopal further said that company is aggressively looking at expanding the scope of its operations through acquisition of telecom licenses in markets abroad.
K S Choudhari, managing director, Aksh Optifibre Ltd, told DNA Money: “With MTNL, we are targeting at least 25,000 subscribers in the next fiscal in Mumbai and there will drastic reduction of tariff for IPTV for the first time in Mumbai.”
MTNL charges Mumbai customers Rs 300 per month for 150 channels with IOL Broadband tie-up in Mumbai.
BSNL has introduced IPTV in Kolkata, Pune and Bangalore and will launch radio on mobile and mobile television.
Also, MTNL and Aksh Optifibre will be launching ‘video phone calling services’ on television screens through existing MTNL broadband lines for domestic and corporate users. The combo will also unveil ‘Video & Music on demand’ library that can be broadcasted on a single television set on demand.
Both will offer another service — Time shift TV (last three days’ television content aired by any channel available at the push of a button).
Meanwhile, BSNL has earmarked Rs 3,000 crore for Wi-Max. It will opt for franchisee model for its wireless broadband services. It plans to roll out WiMax services in 70 cities across the country by the second half of 2008. It had received some spectrum in the 2.5 GHz frequency band for its Wi-Max rollout.
In the broadband space, MTNL will float a tender for 10 lakh new broadband connections over the next few months.
The government has set a target of 20 million broadband lines by 2010 and BSNL is targeting a market share of about 60% of this figure.
MTNL is also commercially launching its mobile TV service from the first week of April with 12 channels for Rs 99 per month. The channels cover music, news and entertainment. The service will be available to MTNL customers having high-end handsets. The streaming technology would be provided by AirChord Televentures. It has about 15 lakh users in Delhi out of which 25,000 use GPRS in their mobile phones. To watch TV on mobiles, handsets of the users would have to be GPRS-enabled and supported by Symbian operating system and phone memory should be minimum 2 MB and have real player application. MTNL will soon launch radio on mobile, too.
Analyst Devyani Javeri of Edelweiss Securities said in a research report that core business growth opportunities remain limited for MTNL. Slow pace of mobility subscriber accretions coupled with a stagnant wireline subscriber base makes MTNL a relatively less attractive play in the Indian telecom space.
MTNL offers cellular mobile services using GSM technology in Delhi and Mumbai under brand name Dolphin. MTNL also offers mobile and fixed-wireless services based on code division multiple access (CDMA) technology. It provides basic telecommunications services in Delhi and Mumbai, which include basic fixed-line access(including phone plus facilities) in Mumbai and Delhi; public call offices.
r_mithun@dnaindia.net
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