Orange, the France Telecom Subsidiary, has postponed the introduction of its IPTV service in the UK until 2008. It was originally scheduled for introduction before the end of 2007. Orange is currently operating an IPTV trail with 350 subscribers in Leeds and London.
The coverage of Orange's broadband network in the UK is about 40 percent compared to about 60 percent for other competitive carriers.
France Telecom is a leading TelcoTV service provider and has the technology well in hand. It appears that its broadband coverage and other network issues are causing it to delay its IPTV service introduction in the UK.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
KT to user IPTV Advertising
Korea Telecom the will acquire Nasmedia, an online advertisement agency for $US28 million. Nasmedia will sell ads for Korea Telecom's IPTV and mobile Internet platforms starting in 2008. The acquisition is a response to SK Telecom, the largest wireless carrier in Korea, which bought an ad company Aircross in 2000.
The purchase of Nasmedia is one of the steps Korea Telecom is taking to transform itself from a telecom operator into a media and entertainment company. It plans to provide tailored advertisements for new media outlets.
Korea Telecom believes that its IPTV subscribers will increase five fold to 1.5 million over the next 12 months and it will become a major source of advertising income.
Advertising is becoming a major emerging source of new revenues for mobile and IPTV services globally. This is a clear trend on a global basis.
The purchase of Nasmedia is one of the steps Korea Telecom is taking to transform itself from a telecom operator into a media and entertainment company. It plans to provide tailored advertisements for new media outlets.
Korea Telecom believes that its IPTV subscribers will increase five fold to 1.5 million over the next 12 months and it will become a major source of advertising income.
Advertising is becoming a major emerging source of new revenues for mobile and IPTV services globally. This is a clear trend on a global basis.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
IPTV Market in The Netherlands
While I was in Amsterdam, I met with KPN as well as Versatel to discuss the IPTV market in The Netherlands. My previous post discusses Versatel's offerings and strategies. I also recently did a post discussing KPN's strategies.
The Netherlands is dominated by cable with more than 6 million of its 7 million homes subscribing to the service. The cable service costs 16 euros per month. There are about 1.2 million digital subscribers in The Netherlands.
KPN stated that it believes that it is a battle with cable for each home. It believes that by 2010, 70 percent of homes will choose either a telco or the cable company to provide all voice, data, and video services to the home.
Digital Terrestrial is becoming a significant factor in the Netherlands and accounted for over half of the conversions to digital television in 3Q07. KPN offers a digital terrestrial service for 6.95 euros per month for the first set-top box and 3 euros per month for additional set-top boxes. Its digitial terrestrial offering is generally intended for the TV sets in the home that are not connected to the cable service.
Both KPN and Versatel offer services competitive with cable at 14.95 euros per month. They also share the same football programming, which is produced and broadcast by Versatel and broadcast by KPN as well under license from Versatel.
The IPTV providers in The Netherlands have to overcome strong, established competition from cable providers. It is interesting that KPN and Versatel seem to be cooperating with each other to some degree to establish IPTV. I think this is a smart approach. The more that they can establish an IPTV brand in that country, the more business there will be for both of them.
The Netherlands is dominated by cable with more than 6 million of its 7 million homes subscribing to the service. The cable service costs 16 euros per month. There are about 1.2 million digital subscribers in The Netherlands.
KPN stated that it believes that it is a battle with cable for each home. It believes that by 2010, 70 percent of homes will choose either a telco or the cable company to provide all voice, data, and video services to the home.
Digital Terrestrial is becoming a significant factor in the Netherlands and accounted for over half of the conversions to digital television in 3Q07. KPN offers a digital terrestrial service for 6.95 euros per month for the first set-top box and 3 euros per month for additional set-top boxes. Its digitial terrestrial offering is generally intended for the TV sets in the home that are not connected to the cable service.
Both KPN and Versatel offer services competitive with cable at 14.95 euros per month. They also share the same football programming, which is produced and broadcast by Versatel and broadcast by KPN as well under license from Versatel.
The IPTV providers in The Netherlands have to overcome strong, established competition from cable providers. It is interesting that KPN and Versatel seem to be cooperating with each other to some degree to establish IPTV. I think this is a smart approach. The more that they can establish an IPTV brand in that country, the more business there will be for both of them.
Tele2 Netherlands
When I was in Amsterdam last week, I met with Tele2, which was formerly known as Versatel in The Netherlands. It now has 200 thousand Tele2 Vision IPTV capable subscribers out of its 281 thousand broadband subscribers. It offers three packages:
Tele2 has experienced strong growth with its broadband service recently. It had 6 percent broadband subscriber growth in 3Q07.
Tele2 has had good growth with its IPTV service that has been driven by a strong football offering. It is facing strong cable competition and will have to continue to develop creative approaches to the market to fuel further growth.
- The Visionbox plan has no recurring monthly fees and provides access to Tele2's on demand services. This plan is targeted at cable subscribers that want access to Tele2's on demand sports and entertainment services.
- The Vision Silver plan is offered at 7.95 euros per month and includes 20 broadcast channels as well as its on demand sports and entertainment services. It also expects that this service will supplement cable services in the subscriber's home.
- The Vision Gold plan is offered at 14.95 euros per month and includes 41 broadcast channels as well as its on demand sports and entertainment services. It also includes the first six months of its football services for free. It expects that this service will be a replacement for cable services.
Tele2 has experienced strong growth with its broadband service recently. It had 6 percent broadband subscriber growth in 3Q07.
Tele2 has had good growth with its IPTV service that has been driven by a strong football offering. It is facing strong cable competition and will have to continue to develop creative approaches to the market to fuel further growth.
Tiscali Launches IPTV in Italy
Tiscali has launched Tiscali TV in Caligari, Milan, and Rome. The service will be offered over all of Italy in 2008 and will be offered for free until the end of March, 2008. Tiscali TV offers 50 TV broadcast channels and supports both HD and video on demand content. It also offers an NPVR service that makes all broadcast programs available for 48 hours after their original broadcast. The service also gives the users the ability to create a personalized electronic program guide.
IPTV is offered by FastWeb, Telecom Italia, and Wind in Italy. Tiscali needs an IPTV offering in this market to remain competitive.
IPTV is offered by FastWeb, Telecom Italia, and Wind in Italy. Tiscali needs an IPTV offering in this market to remain competitive.
Tiscali UK Aims for 200K Subscribers
Tiscali UK intends to have a total of 200 thousand IPTV subscribers by the end of 2008. It hopes to have 50 thousand IPTV subscribers by the end of 2007, which will bring it back up to its previous high water mark. It is currently adding 250 new subscribers per day.
Tiscali UK will begin a major marketing campaign in January 2008. It currently has 2 million broadband subscribers and covers 55 percent of the market.
IPTV is becoming an important component of a broadband strategy in the UK. BT is now offering its BT Vision IPTV service and Orange is about to introduce its own IPTV service in the UK. It is important that Tiscali UK strengthen its IPTV offering to remain competitive.
Tiscali UK will begin a major marketing campaign in January 2008. It currently has 2 million broadband subscribers and covers 55 percent of the market.
IPTV is becoming an important component of a broadband strategy in the UK. BT is now offering its BT Vision IPTV service and Orange is about to introduce its own IPTV service in the UK. It is important that Tiscali UK strengthen its IPTV offering to remain competitive.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
ATT's New U-verse IPTV Forecasts
ATT made a number of predictions for its IPTV U-verse service at its analyst conference. The full presentation is on its website. ATT expects that its U-verse service has the "potential to be a multi-billion dollar revenue stream over next two to three years". The company expects the service to grow to more than 1 million subscribers in service by the end of 2008. It had 126 thousand subscribers at the end of 3Q07. It is still forecasting that it will be installing 10 thousand new subscribers per month by the end of 2007 and expects this rate to be 40 thousand per week by the end of 2008.
ATT is maintaining its forecast that the service will pass 17 million homes by then end of 2008, up from 5.5 million homes at the end of 3Q07. It announced a new goal of 30 million homes passed by the end of 2010. At this point the service would pass 50 percent of living units and 33 percent of businesses in 22 states. It expects the cost of home passed to be in the low $300's.
ATT plans to increase its maximum data speed with U-verse from 6 Mbps to 10 Mbps as well as support 4 HD channels and 2 VoIP lines with a total budget of 36.4 Mbps. This compares to today's budget of 21.4 Mbps with 1 HD and 3 SD channels, 6 Mbps of data, and 2 VoIP lines today. Both services will be available to 80 percent of the homes passed not including the former BellSouth territory. The 36.4 Mbps budget will require pair bonding while the 21.4 budget can be provided over a single pair. It expects to start offering a bonded service by 2H08.
ATT expects that the average installation time for the U-verse service will decrease from 6.4 hours today to 5.3 hours with experienced technicians. Its target is to bring this time under 5 hours. Its CPE cost per customer is about $550 today and is expected to drop to somewhere around $400 in 2010.
ATT plans to introduce TV ad insertion to its U-verse service in 2009.
ATT continues to make aggressive forecasts for its U-verse IPTV service. It will have to put in a lot of effort to pass 17 million homes by the end of 2008. To achieve this it will need to pass more than 750 thousand homes per month. To go from 17 million homes by the end of 2008 to 30 million by the end of 2010 will require a rate a bit higher than 525 thousand per month.
ATT's goal of 1 million U-verse subscribers by the end of 2008 seems doable if it does pass 17 million homes. That is a subscription rate of about 6 percent.
ATT is maintaining its forecast that the service will pass 17 million homes by then end of 2008, up from 5.5 million homes at the end of 3Q07. It announced a new goal of 30 million homes passed by the end of 2010. At this point the service would pass 50 percent of living units and 33 percent of businesses in 22 states. It expects the cost of home passed to be in the low $300's.
ATT plans to increase its maximum data speed with U-verse from 6 Mbps to 10 Mbps as well as support 4 HD channels and 2 VoIP lines with a total budget of 36.4 Mbps. This compares to today's budget of 21.4 Mbps with 1 HD and 3 SD channels, 6 Mbps of data, and 2 VoIP lines today. Both services will be available to 80 percent of the homes passed not including the former BellSouth territory. The 36.4 Mbps budget will require pair bonding while the 21.4 budget can be provided over a single pair. It expects to start offering a bonded service by 2H08.
ATT expects that the average installation time for the U-verse service will decrease from 6.4 hours today to 5.3 hours with experienced technicians. Its target is to bring this time under 5 hours. Its CPE cost per customer is about $550 today and is expected to drop to somewhere around $400 in 2010.
ATT plans to introduce TV ad insertion to its U-verse service in 2009.
ATT continues to make aggressive forecasts for its U-verse IPTV service. It will have to put in a lot of effort to pass 17 million homes by the end of 2008. To achieve this it will need to pass more than 750 thousand homes per month. To go from 17 million homes by the end of 2008 to 30 million by the end of 2010 will require a rate a bit higher than 525 thousand per month.
ATT's goal of 1 million U-verse subscribers by the end of 2008 seems doable if it does pass 17 million homes. That is a subscription rate of about 6 percent.
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