Reliance Communications plans to launch IPTV in ten metro cities, including four metros, by the end of 2008, reports DNA. They’re targeting five million customers in 200 cities, adds DQ.

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2006 was a year when IPTV and triple play were more reported about than actually seen. We were told that MTNL and Airtel were trying out IPTV services, and though MTNL eventually did launch the service there was never really any clarity on the regulations and the pricing. The websites still have limited information, and there has been little or no promotion to speak of, so far.
IPTV, because of a startling lack of opportunism on the service providers part and lack of decision-making (only statements, no policy) on the part of the government, has also missed an opportunity as Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata have switched to the Conditional Access System as of today. DTH and CAS services have marketed aggressively, and are more likely to capture the market. It won’t be easy to make consumers switch from these alternatives to IPTV in 2008.
We bring for you, some of the features of MTNL’s subscription plans for IPTV, available only on phone in Delhi:
The Silver Plan has a security deposit of Rs.1500, refundable with interest after five years. There are fixed service charges of Rs.30, and multiple rental options – monthly, quarterly, annual and lifetime. However, there are only 30 free to air channels, at Rs.60 per month, and paid channels at Rs.5 per channel per month, though at present only channels from Star are available. There are multiple options for video on demand: from Rs.200 per movie to Rs.5 per movie. Timeshifting is available for Rs.30 a month. For Videocalling, charges are Rs.25 for fifteen minutes during peak time. And this information is available only on phone. In Delhi, it’s been implemented in a few exchanges, and only one or two customers are apparently booking connections every week. The Bronze plan doesn’t have videocalling. The tariff plan for Mumbai is available online, here (pdf).
The target of 200k subscribers seems to be a pipe-dream for MTNL, and while as a product, IPTV has a lot to offer, and I feel that there is still a market for it – the communication from and information dissemination on the same has been nothing short of disastrous because they’ve ignored the end-user so far.
But what about Bharti, which was also testing IPTV? Bharti began 2006, hiring honchos for its IPTV services. They tested the service out in Gurgaon. The commercial launch still hasn’t taken place, in spite of their stated plans.
BSNL also tested IPTV in Pune, and plans to launch early in 2007 - first in Chennai, then in Pune.

Meanwhile, the content providers and the technology partners have been far more active and aggressive, particularly IOL Broadband and TIME Broadband, with which MTNL has tie-ups.
IOL Broadband increased its share capital from Rs.50 crore to Rs.70 crore, and got investment from the Times Group (5 lakh shares at Rs.100.share) and Maula Trading (7 lakh shares at Rs.95/share). IOL has a content deal with Star, and claims to have 20,000 hours of content. I wonder if they’ve achieved even 10% of their target of 300,000 subscribers by end 2007. The IOL Broadband stock ended the year priced at Rs.252.05 on the BSE, with a 52 week low of Rs.41.05. It had begun 2006 at Rs.69.45, increasing by 275.63% in 2006.
IOL also tied up with Anytime, and we spoke to Anytime CEO Craig Zimbulis about the deal. A deal with Time Broadband, we’ve heard, is also on the cards for Anytime. We also spoke to Time Broadband co-founder Tushar Shah. Time Broadband had diluted Rs.25 crores for a 33% angel investment from UAE based Clarion Shipping. They have tie-ups with IMI, Time Media, Film Producers Guild, Globecast, and have signed MOU’s with several others. I also saw a demo of the service, and the stock ticker was pixelated.

Companies looking at content-tie ups and investment in India:
- Israel’s NDS group
- Shemaroo
- ITV’s Granada International

What should we expect on the IPTV front in 2007?
- Launch of IPTV/Triple Play services from Bharti Airtel and BSNL.
- Increased marketing activities from either the aggregators (TIME and IOL) or MTNL, BSNL and Airtel. Or both.
- A policy governing IPTV from the Department of Telecommunications. Or so we hope.
- Slow adoption, until the next phase of CAS implementation kicks in.

Hope you had a good 2006, and best wishes for 2007.