SLT to introduce internet protocol television
Shirajiv Sirimane
TECHNOLOGY: For the first time Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)
would be introduced to the country by Sri Lanka Telecom. The company
hopes to invest Rs. one billion to bring this service to the country.
SLT was granted the licence by the Media Ministry to operate IPTV
last week and the service would be available in Sri Lanka by the end of
the year.
Head of IT Division, Deepa Liyanagama said this service is offered
specifically to deliver and broadcast quality video and new integrated
TV services over broadband networks on demand.
She said the introduction of IPTV would also contribute towards the
ICT knowledge initiative initiated by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. “This
would take knowledge to the rural areas too,” she said.
She said a decoding box costing around US $ 100 would be provided for
the subscribers and the system would be delivered through telephone
lines. The existing Television set and SLT telephone lines are the only
two requirements needed to connect to this service.
“This service would be initially offered to Colombo subscribers who
are already using copper lines for voice and data,” she said.
The SLT hopes to provide the decoder on installment basis so that
there would not be a big financial commitment for subscribers. “We want
this service to be available for the less affluent class as well and
this is why we are offering instalments,” he said.
The SLT is yet to decide on a rental for this service and it is
likely that IPTV would be billed on a usage basis.
The SLT already has nearly 2 million subscribers.
The IPTV subscribers in addition to watching local TV channels would
also have the benefit of viewing other educational, sports, news and
leisure channels that are connected through this service.
“One of the key features of this service is that a customer could
even watch a programme that was already telecast a few hours ago,” she
said.
The service would also be a very effective education tool during the
secondary stage of the installation as it could be a good guiding tool
for school children specially to increase knowledge, as there would be
special educational programmes that would be aired. IPTV had a very
successful growth in the past 6 months especially in France, Belgium,
Spain, Italy and Eastern Europe and in Asia.
“Forecast shows service provider revenue in this area would grow from
$3.6 billion in 2007 to $20.3 billion in 2011.
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SLT to get BoI status
BOI STATUS: Sri Lanka Telecom, a blue chip with an annual turnover in
excess of Rs. 37 billion is to be recognised as a BoI company soon. This
is in response to a request made by the SLT a few months back.
Chairman Board of Investments Dhammika Perera said they are looking
at SLTs request in a positive manner and soon BoI status would be
awarded.
SLT, which has NTT Communications of Japan as a strategic partner,
also provides mobile telephony through its fully owned subsidiary
Mobitel. Newly incorporated SLT Hong Kong Ltd, is a fully owned
subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom.
There were also reports that a Malaysian based company, Maxis, is
buying shares owned by NTT and subsequently would re-invest a further US
S 500 million for expansion of SLT in Sri Lanka.
Several rounds of talks were held in Malaysia over this.
SLT already has a customer base of over two million including
multinational corporations, large and small corporates, retail and
domestic customers.
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