AT&T Introduces IPTV
June 2006
AT&T introduced its U-verse IP TV service to 5,000 homes scattered across San Antonio. It is priced at US$69 to US$124 per month with a family oriented bundle at US$54 per month. A Spanish language package is available for an additional US$10 per month.
AT&T offers over 200 channels along with a data service with speeds of 1.5 to 6 Mbps. The service comes with three set-top boxes, one with DVR capability. The standard installation fee is $95.
AT&T also introduced its Homezone service that combines Echostar video content with video-on-demand delivered over a DSL line to a 2Wire set-top box.
AT&T plans to introduce its U-Verse service in 15 to 20 markets by the end of 2006. It has not set a date for a full market launch in San Antonio or for any other market. It has stated that it will introduce the service in Houston, Texas.
This is a tentative rollout that appears to be a continuation of its technical trial. We believe that it would have made a much larger introduction if it were holding a full market trial.
{Note: analyst comments are italicized}
Source: MRG, Inc., June 2006 IPTV Bulletin
Ericsson Introduces IPTV
June 2006
Ericsson introduced its IP TV offering at Globalcomm with a formal partnership with Kasenna who will provide its video-on-demand and middleware products. This offering will use Ericsson access systems and support broadcast and video-on-demand services.
In its next phase in 2007, the company plans to add IMS support to its IP TV offering in order to support both communications services and TV services.
The third phase of its implementation in 2008 will include convergence with mobile networks, including services that support both mobile and IP TV devices.
At Globalcomm, Ericsson showed a DLNA based demonstration with products from Sony.
Ericsson comes to the IP TV market later than the other major telecom suppliers such as Alcatel, Lucent, and Siemens. It faces the same problem as Siemens – it must overcome Microsoft’s dominance with large service providers.
Ericsson is taking a smart approach and leverage its mobile and IMS experience. It seems clear that mobile technologies will be increasing in IP TV networks, and Ericsson is well positioned to take advantage of that.
{Note: analyst comments are italicized}
Source: MRG, Inc., June 2006 IPTV Bulletin
Siemens and Nokia to Merge
June 2006
Siemens and Nokia became the latest pair of major telecom suppliers to announce a merger. This follows hard on the heels of the Alcatel/Lucent Merger announcement in April 2006.
Nokias Networks division will merge with Siemens Carrier division. Both of these organizations offer Wireless and Wireline services and have aggregate revenue of €15.8 billion. They stated that 78% of these revenues are from wireless networks and 22% from wireline. The companies expect cost savings of €1.5 billion.
The resulting organization will be owned 50-50 by each company and will be headquartered in Helsinki. Most of the top level executives will come from Nokia.
The companies included IPTV as one of the leading market segments that the combined company will address.
The merger will not improve Siemens position in the MRG IPTV Market Leader Report. We have not identified any Nokia products in the IPTV market segments that we track in this report.
We expect that the resulting company will continue to put a high priority on IPTV, given the importance of IPTV in the service provider market today.
This merger together with the Alcatel/Lucent and the Ericsson/Marconi mergers will put significant pressure on Nortel, Cisco, NEC, and Motorola, as well as smaller companies such as Tellabs, Fujitsu, and Hitachi to find merger partners.
{Note: analyst comments are italicized}
Source: MRG, Inc., June 2006 IPTV Bulletin
|
