Telcos Enter The Video Village

Sean Buckley (5. 29. 07)
http://www.telecommagazine.com/newsglobe/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_3210

Success Is Predicated On Consistent User Experience

While IPTV is certainly a compelling method to deliver a full set of interactive content services to end users, the market is still relatively nascent. According to Infonetics Research, there were only 7 million IPTV subscribers worldwide in 2006, but that number is growing quickly and will jump to nearly 48 million by 2010, says the analyst firm.

Whether the video signal comes into the home over fiber, DSL, or hybrid coax/fiber, video delivery poses a number of technical and business challenges for telcos entering the video village.

One independent service provider perhaps summed up the challenge of delivering IPTV the best during last year’s TelcoTV conference: “Video is hard; it’s very hard and the first six months are terrible,” said Mike Knoll, CTO for Greenfield, Ind-based Hancock Telephone (see Hancock Telephone Takes on Video).

Hancock Telephone’s experience is far unusual. For one, the telco not only faces the challenge of delivering a better service than cable, but they also have to deal with acquiring content and building a profitable video service. On the technical side, the challenges are just as fierce. Telcos are faced with a dizzying array of network technologies to integrate, in addition to a diversity of home wiring environments to deliver video in a home and ensuring proper quality of experience (QoE).

Still, with cable operators eating away at the service providers’ cash cow voice service revenues, telcos are moving fast on the IPTV challenge.

In the U.S., all eyes are upon the two largest carriers’ IPTV efforts: AT&T and Verizon. Taking a walk before they run approach to IPTV, Verizon—clearly one of the most aggressive FTTP (fiber to the premise) advocates—is using an RF overlay architecture for its FiOS TV service, while putting in place the hooks to get to IPTV when ready.

Thus far, Verizon’s bet is paying off. In Q1 07, Verizon added 141,000 new FiOS customers. Ok, so an RF overlay might not be as exciting as IPTV, it does give Verizon a running start.

While AT&T has taken on more of a conservative approach to its access network choice--using FTTC/FTTN with VDSL2 bonding in existing markets and FTTP in Greenfield builds--Ma Bell plans to have the service available in 30 additional markets by the end of this year.

IPTV is not just for the big boys, though. Along with Hancock Telephone, VA-based NTELOS, an integrated ICP that’s using GPON-based FTTP, will launch its IPTV service later this year. While NTELOS might not be the size of an AT&T, the threat of Comcast coming into their RLEC territories drove it to move to launch new services such as IPTV and SIP-based voice services (see NTELOS’ Common Service Platform). If one thing’s for sure, the consumer appetite for TV is insatiable and users won’t tolerate any service degradation. At a time when the cable operators are set on delivering a quad play service package, not to mention IP-based video, a new telco video customer could become a former customer if they can’t deliver a consistent user experience.