IPTV finds Cable TV a threat to competition

By Ravindu Peiris

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) introduced to Sri Lanka by Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) is threatened by the competition offered by Cable TV and Satellite TV providers.

SLT Head of IP and Broadband Networks Division Priyankar Udugodage said that although they can offer IPTV for low prices the Cable TV providers such as Dialog TV are already providing such for low prices. "That is where the issue is, the Cable TV competitors" he said at the Cisco Media Offsite 2008. SLT which has already obtained the license for IPTV can offer it wherever DSL is offered.

A significant feature of IPTV according to Udugodage is that in IPTV the customers decide when to watch the programmes and not the broadcasters. "The copper lines which have been placed can bring high speed internet to your computers as well as DVD quality TV" he affirmed.

Udugodage moreover revealed that if it was not IPTV they could portray higher prices but because it is IPTV they can talk about offering it to customers at a very reasonable cost. He revealed that SLT Broadband is experiencing a 100 percent growth with 60,000 households opting for broadband in the island.

"Although we laid the fibre up to Jaffna it was disconnected but it has been spread even to Vavuniya and they are able to enjoy ADSL" he said.

He confirmed that in the next few years the networking and communication system will be imperative to the Sri Lankans like water and electricity as the network in this country is evolving to an IP standard. "In the future there would be one converged network for broadband be it wired or wireless. Now we have separate lines and fees for everything but in the future it would be only the IP Wide Area Network Broadband" he said.

He pointed out that in those days it was a mere public communication network with just the voice being broadcast.

However now it has transformed in the last 15 years going beyond voice and now offering various multimedia services. He noted that it was Cisco who pioneered the IP routers in Sri Lanka and also supported the SLT to enhance and develop the company's networks.

Source: Daily Mirror