TT&T Subscriber Services, a subsidiary of TT&T, has soft-launched the Internet Protocol (IP) television service MaxNet IPTV for selected broadband Internet subscribers to its group.

Supot Theirawut, managing director of TT&T Subscriber Services, said that during a three-month trial phase, approximately 1,000 randomly selected broadband Internet customers of Triple T Broadband in ten provinces would enjoy the service free of charge.

Triple T is another TT&T subsidiary. During the soft launch the MaxNet IPTV service covers Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Chon Buri, Ayutthaya, Phuket, Nakhon Ratchasima, Phitsanulok, Songkhla, Nakhon Pathom and Pattaya.

TT&T has to focus on exploring new services to offset the declining revenue from its fixed-line telephone service, which has experienced brutal competition from cellular operators. The IPTV business is also an attempt to maximise the group's synergy.

"IPTV could be our flagship business in the future," Supot said. "I believe the nationwide demand will start taking off in the next two years."

The MaxNet IPTV service will go commercial in September and expects to sign up around 20,000 subscribers within one year after the commercial debut, Supot said, though he declined to specify the service fee.

With a set-top box, the IPTV technology enables subscribers to watch television, access video on demand, use the Internet and talk on the phone simultaneously through a single telephone line.

TT&T Subscriber has leased the nationwide network of Triple T to provide the IPTV service, while the set-top boxes were supplied by China's major telecom equipment maker, Huawei Technologies.

Supot said that at present it is not viable to offer the service nationwide, given that the real demand is limited to the major provinces.

The largest broadband Internet service provider, True Corp, and Advanced Datanetwork Communi-cation (ADC) are the two main existing IPTV service providers. True Corp's service covers Bangkok and the metropolitan area, while that of ADC is nationwide.

There are 800,000 broadband Internet subscribers in Thailand. Triple T expects its broadband Internet subscribers to grow by 100,000 by the end of this year, up from the current total of around 200,000.

Supot said that TT&T Subscriber had joined with many content partners to provide the IPTV service, which includes 20 channels, including free television channels. Among the content partners are the Nation Channel, the Money Channel and the big filmmaker the Mono Group.

"The number of available channels is expected to reach 30 when we go commercial. We're also in talks with some content providers to jointly provide Hollywood movies," Supot said.

He said that in the future, MaxNet IPTV service would allow interactive transactions such as bill payments, information enquiries and playing games through the television screen.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation

Chiang Mai