Saturday, July 08, 2006
Reliance Infocomm: Smart IPTV Strategy
Reliance is venturing in entertainment space in a big way as it is targeting Indian market with multi-pronged strategy. It includes customer reach and content aspect. For urban India Reliance is going with IPTV project termed as "Home Netway" with Alcatel-Microsoft solution and for rural India or areas without its fiber coverage it going with DTH termed as "Bluemagic". It can be a marvelous strategy to reduce CAPEX as well as reaching wider subscriber space. Reliance will not be able to reach all the customers at once because of huge CAPEX requirement due to Metro Ethernet Network (MEN) deployment. Moreover it won't be able to lay fiber at fast speed and meantime customer can be grabbed by MTNL, BSNL and Bharti so it is launching DTH services to expand its reach.
On the content front it is slowly integrating all the entertainment aspects into its own telco strategy. Reliance has already acquired Adlabs and Primefocus for the post-production, distribution and exhibition of movies. On the gaming front it has acquired Paradox Studios for developing gaming content used on mobile and broadband platform. Moreover Adlabs is planning to venture in Home Video segment. Reliance is also in talks with Zee and Sony for content creation and content aggregation.
Reliance is not seeing IPTV / DTH project as stand alone services or bundled services. It is planning for the convergence arena where reliance will be having presence in households with high speed network and will be providing "Smart Home Services" for all Ethernet enabled devices. Company has got CHOISpad (developed by Innomedia Technologies) which can be used to control everything in the home. CHOIS stands for Convergence based Home and Office Interactive Services. CHOISpad is a customized set top box (STB) controlled by CHOISer (remote).
CHOISpad becomes the Prime Mover, for shaping up the requirements of the Netway. Netway fibers have to bring at least a Gigabit of bandwidth near every home/office, so that it can carry almost half a gigabit worth of multicast Digital channels. To keep costs at minimum, it is necessary to provide a conventional 100 Base T, UTP cable connection to every premise. Like the electricity meter, the UTP connection at homes is actually provided through a Secure Gateway. This Secure Gateway can connect to four adjoining user premises using 100 Base-T UTP cables. The simplest way would be to directly connect the UTP cable to a CHOISpad. Practically, however, the connection will terminate on a simple unmanaged switch at the home. The Home Switch will in turn connect to many Ethernet devices via RJ-45 sockets.
Ethernet devices at homes can be PCs, CHOISpads, or any of the Ethernet/Internet appliances. For convenience the RJ-45 sockets for plugging these appliance has to be co-located with the normal electric plug points. For convenience of connecting the RJ-45 sockets in a bussed manner, the Home Switch uses Half-Duplex protocol. Any electrician can now manage even the UTP wiring at homes. This shows that the electrical accessory shops, will now stock Ethernet wiring accessories too. This will spur a commodity market for Ethernet appliances, and white goods which can be remotely configured / interrogated through the internet.
On the content front it is slowly integrating all the entertainment aspects into its own telco strategy. Reliance has already acquired Adlabs and Primefocus for the post-production, distribution and exhibition of movies. On the gaming front it has acquired Paradox Studios for developing gaming content used on mobile and broadband platform. Moreover Adlabs is planning to venture in Home Video segment. Reliance is also in talks with Zee and Sony for content creation and content aggregation.
Reliance is not seeing IPTV / DTH project as stand alone services or bundled services. It is planning for the convergence arena where reliance will be having presence in households with high speed network and will be providing "Smart Home Services" for all Ethernet enabled devices. Company has got CHOISpad (developed by Innomedia Technologies) which can be used to control everything in the home. CHOIS stands for Convergence based Home and Office Interactive Services. CHOISpad is a customized set top box (STB) controlled by CHOISer (remote).
CHOISpad becomes the Prime Mover, for shaping up the requirements of the Netway. Netway fibers have to bring at least a Gigabit of bandwidth near every home/office, so that it can carry almost half a gigabit worth of multicast Digital channels. To keep costs at minimum, it is necessary to provide a conventional 100 Base T, UTP cable connection to every premise. Like the electricity meter, the UTP connection at homes is actually provided through a Secure Gateway. This Secure Gateway can connect to four adjoining user premises using 100 Base-T UTP cables. The simplest way would be to directly connect the UTP cable to a CHOISpad. Practically, however, the connection will terminate on a simple unmanaged switch at the home. The Home Switch will in turn connect to many Ethernet devices via RJ-45 sockets.
Ethernet devices at homes can be PCs, CHOISpads, or any of the Ethernet/Internet appliances. For convenience the RJ-45 sockets for plugging these appliance has to be co-located with the normal electric plug points. For convenience of connecting the RJ-45 sockets in a bussed manner, the Home Switch uses Half-Duplex protocol. Any electrician can now manage even the UTP wiring at homes. This shows that the electrical accessory shops, will now stock Ethernet wiring accessories too. This will spur a commodity market for Ethernet appliances, and white goods which can be remotely configured / interrogated through the internet.
Future of IPTV
IPTV is considered to be the savior of wireline industry but the knights of telecom industry are portraying something else about the future of IPTV especially in the near term i.e. 12 months. Over the next 12 months, most industry players don’t expect IPTV to generate ‘significant’ revenue. However, in three years’ time, confidence in IPTV as a major contributor to the top-line increases markedly.This was one of the key findings of a survey conducted by the EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) and Accenture during April to May this year.
They interviewed 302 executives in total, representing telecom, broadcasting and media firms but only 4 percent said they were ‘very confident’ that IPTV would generate significant revenue in the coming year. Considering the longer term window, the picture of future drastically changes. In three years’ time, 34 percent of respondents ‘strongly believe’ that IPTV will generate significant revenue, while another 57 percent say that they are at least ‘somewhat confident’ that this will happen. This may be bacuse of problems faced by telcos with regard to IPTV i.e. regulation, standardisation and securing content and it is believed that they would all be resolved within three years.
The top two IPTV services that the survey group believe will offer the ‘most significant opportunities for revenue growth over the next three years’ are video on demand (19 percent of the vote) and bundled packages (15 percent). Surprises were from the advertising side that only made sixth spot (6 percent) as one of the IPTV services with most revenue potential. So tailored and interactive advertising, which IPTV can provide, is a big opportunity for wireline operators.
But the strategic worth of IPTV should not be measured in revenue growth only. As a mechanism for ‘locking in’ customers and reducing churn, IPTV will also play a valuable role. As Accenture points out in its commentary alongside the survey results, PCCW – Hong Kong’s incumbent – lost ‘tens of thousands’ of landline customers to alternate competitors three years ago. However, thanks to IPTV, PCCW has not only reduced its churn rate by 50% but expects to increase its fixed subscriber base this year. With 549,000 IPTV customers as of April 2006, PCCW has the world’s largest IPTV deployment.
Respondents to the Accenture/EIU survey covered 40 countries in three regions: 35 percent were based in Europe; 33 percent in the Americas; and 32 percent in the Asia- Pacific. Different parts of the IPTV value chain were represented, including: equipment manufacturers (22 percent of the survey group); content providers (14 percent), integrated fixed/wireless telecoms operator (12 percent); TV broadcast network operators (10 percent); and fixed network operator/service providers (9 percent). Collating all the responses from the survey, Accenture/EIU have developed an ‘IPTV confidence index’. At the moment, confidence in IPTV as significant revenue generator in the short tern is measured at 4.06 (a ‘little confident’) on a scale of 1-10. The confidence index rises to 7.55 (‘fairly confident’) when a three-year time frame is considered.
This should come as no surprise. IPTV propels telecoms operators from the familiar territory of selling per-minute or flat-rate voice and data services into a whole new business of managing and pricing content. Breaking into IPTV creates a dilemma for operators: they must keep prices low to lure subscribers, but equally they must secure a return on their investment in infrastructure and content. This will be difficult to achieve in the short term. Survey respondents say that, over the next year, high subscription fees due to the cost of network access and/or equipment will be the greatest obstacle to IPTV adoption by households, along with quality of service issues.These barriers to market growth will diminish over time. Equipment costs will fall, and quality hitches will ease as the technology improves.
Three years from now, IPTV providers will also be bringing substantially more content to customers than today, mainly through revenue-sharing or distribution agreements with content owners, and some also through content development of their own. But content sourcing will increase costs; indeed, executives in our survey expect the high cost of content to keep subscription prices high, and that in three years this will be an important obstacle to household adoption. By then, the competitive environment will be different. Not only will telcos be vying with alternative operators for IPTV customers, but cable and DTH (direct-to-home satellite) operators can be expected to respond aggressively. Executives in the survey say emphatically that the competitiveness of offers from cable and DTH providers will be the single greatest obstacle to IPTV adoption in three years' time. Here if we can look towards telcos of developing nations we can find the solution. For example ADAE (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises) aka Reliance is coming both in the DTH as well as IPTV space. This will help it to reduce the content cost as well as wider reach in the remote areas too. It has acquired Adlabs and Primefocus for the post production, distribution and exhibition of movies.Company is already in talks with Zee and Sony for content creation, aggregation for TV and distribution. So in long term Reliance intends to develop an entertainment strategy. This can be taken as a case study by global telcos to develop strategy for entertainment space.
With competition from cable and DTH space, operators will need to be creative, and no more so than in pricing. In the short term at least, it is their ability to bundle voice, internet and video/TV services in discounted packages that offers the greatest appeal to customers. Once the flow of content begins, most are certain that video-on-demand will be the most attractive IPTV service to customers, and the paramount revenue generator. Maybe so, but industry experience suggests they should keep their minds open.
They interviewed 302 executives in total, representing telecom, broadcasting and media firms but only 4 percent said they were ‘very confident’ that IPTV would generate significant revenue in the coming year. Considering the longer term window, the picture of future drastically changes. In three years’ time, 34 percent of respondents ‘strongly believe’ that IPTV will generate significant revenue, while another 57 percent say that they are at least ‘somewhat confident’ that this will happen. This may be bacuse of problems faced by telcos with regard to IPTV i.e. regulation, standardisation and securing content and it is believed that they would all be resolved within three years.
The top two IPTV services that the survey group believe will offer the ‘most significant opportunities for revenue growth over the next three years’ are video on demand (19 percent of the vote) and bundled packages (15 percent). Surprises were from the advertising side that only made sixth spot (6 percent) as one of the IPTV services with most revenue potential. So tailored and interactive advertising, which IPTV can provide, is a big opportunity for wireline operators.
But the strategic worth of IPTV should not be measured in revenue growth only. As a mechanism for ‘locking in’ customers and reducing churn, IPTV will also play a valuable role. As Accenture points out in its commentary alongside the survey results, PCCW – Hong Kong’s incumbent – lost ‘tens of thousands’ of landline customers to alternate competitors three years ago. However, thanks to IPTV, PCCW has not only reduced its churn rate by 50% but expects to increase its fixed subscriber base this year. With 549,000 IPTV customers as of April 2006, PCCW has the world’s largest IPTV deployment.
Respondents to the Accenture/EIU survey covered 40 countries in three regions: 35 percent were based in Europe; 33 percent in the Americas; and 32 percent in the Asia- Pacific. Different parts of the IPTV value chain were represented, including: equipment manufacturers (22 percent of the survey group); content providers (14 percent), integrated fixed/wireless telecoms operator (12 percent); TV broadcast network operators (10 percent); and fixed network operator/service providers (9 percent). Collating all the responses from the survey, Accenture/EIU have developed an ‘IPTV confidence index’. At the moment, confidence in IPTV as significant revenue generator in the short tern is measured at 4.06 (a ‘little confident’) on a scale of 1-10. The confidence index rises to 7.55 (‘fairly confident’) when a three-year time frame is considered.
This should come as no surprise. IPTV propels telecoms operators from the familiar territory of selling per-minute or flat-rate voice and data services into a whole new business of managing and pricing content. Breaking into IPTV creates a dilemma for operators: they must keep prices low to lure subscribers, but equally they must secure a return on their investment in infrastructure and content. This will be difficult to achieve in the short term. Survey respondents say that, over the next year, high subscription fees due to the cost of network access and/or equipment will be the greatest obstacle to IPTV adoption by households, along with quality of service issues.These barriers to market growth will diminish over time. Equipment costs will fall, and quality hitches will ease as the technology improves.
Three years from now, IPTV providers will also be bringing substantially more content to customers than today, mainly through revenue-sharing or distribution agreements with content owners, and some also through content development of their own. But content sourcing will increase costs; indeed, executives in our survey expect the high cost of content to keep subscription prices high, and that in three years this will be an important obstacle to household adoption. By then, the competitive environment will be different. Not only will telcos be vying with alternative operators for IPTV customers, but cable and DTH (direct-to-home satellite) operators can be expected to respond aggressively. Executives in the survey say emphatically that the competitiveness of offers from cable and DTH providers will be the single greatest obstacle to IPTV adoption in three years' time. Here if we can look towards telcos of developing nations we can find the solution. For example ADAE (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises) aka Reliance is coming both in the DTH as well as IPTV space. This will help it to reduce the content cost as well as wider reach in the remote areas too. It has acquired Adlabs and Primefocus for the post production, distribution and exhibition of movies.Company is already in talks with Zee and Sony for content creation, aggregation for TV and distribution. So in long term Reliance intends to develop an entertainment strategy. This can be taken as a case study by global telcos to develop strategy for entertainment space.
With competition from cable and DTH space, operators will need to be creative, and no more so than in pricing. In the short term at least, it is their ability to bundle voice, internet and video/TV services in discounted packages that offers the greatest appeal to customers. Once the flow of content begins, most are certain that video-on-demand will be the most attractive IPTV service to customers, and the paramount revenue generator. Maybe so, but industry experience suggests they should keep their minds open.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
DoCoMo Unveils Six New FOMA "7 Series" Models
NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and its eight regional subsidiaries today introduced six handsets in the 3G FOMA™ "7 Series." The stylish lineup places special emphasis on design and even includes three models conceived by noted outside designers:
D702iF: Momoko Ikuta
P702iD: Taku Satoh
N702iS: Oki Sato
All the models are compatible with video phone, i-channel™ for news delivered automatically to the phone's standby screen as telop text and Deco-mail™ e-mail decoration. Some are also compatible with international roaming service WORLD WING™ and Chaku-moji™, which lets the caller enter a short message that will appear on the receiver's phone as it rings. Security features of some models include Data Security Service™, which enables phonebook to be stored on the DoCoMo network, and Omakase Lock, which allows users who lose their handsets to contact a 24-hour call center to immediately lock personal data such as the phonebook. Comparison of features is shown above. Detailed description of the launched models can be accesed at http://www.nttdocomo.com/pr/files/20060704_attachment02.pdf
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Verizon FiOS TV: Network Architecture
Verizon uses a network design that looks similar to traditional cable but includes such telco-like touches as duplicate headends and Sonet rings. In addition, the carrier is using a combination of traditional radio frequency (RF) carriage as IP. At the core of the network, the company has set up two super headends (SHEs), one in Temple Terrace, Fla., and another in Bloomington, Ill. The SHEs will both take in the same national content from an array of traditional cable networks. In the event of failure, one SHE will be able to provide content to all sites. From the SHEs, video is sent over Verizon's Sonet to hub offices where local off-air networks as well as required public, educational and government channels are injected. For example in the case of the Keller launch, content will come from a hub office in Carrollton, Texas.
Video-on-demand (VOD) will follow a similar path with some being stored at the hub office on local servers. However, from the hub office, linear programming from the cable networks will be sent to local central offices and over the FTTP network using RF technology while all VOD content and the interactive program guide will come into the home over IP. Unlike SBC Communications and BellSouth, which have committed to launching all-IP video networks, Verizon believes mixing formats is more appropriate given the state of the technology.Cable TV providers typically have a 860-MHz channel to serve each house, and have to divvy up that capacity if they want to add services such as video on demand, Internet access and VoIP.
Verizon delivers three wavelengths of light to each house: a 860-MHz video channel; a 622Mbps channel for voice, data and video on demand; and a 155Mbps return channel for voice and data (the 622M and 155Mbps channels are shared by up to 32 households).Using different channels means Verizon can more readily accommodate changing demands without sacrificing one option to offer another.Unlike cable operators it doesn't use up digital channel capacity to also offer voice, VOD and information services, which consume 10 times the bandwidth of video channels. Verizon is offerring analog because there is a group of people who don't want to have a set-top on every TV set. They want that TV set in the kitchen or the basement to be able to get basic cable channels on a cable-ready TV.
Verizon does surrender some of its 860 MHz of RF capacity to provide 24 channels of analog, but provides all other service — voice over IP, information services and VOD — via IP streams that don't consume any channel capacity. That's a distinct advantage over cable companies. Companies such as AT&T, which is offerring IPTV over a fiber-to-the-node network, can't deliver multiple HD channels as Verizon will be able to over its FiOS FTTP network. By using IP streams within the home network, Verizon will soon be able to offer its TV customers multi-room DVR capability that can record two HD channels simultaneously, while delivering two others for immediate viewing.
Foreseeing the future, Verizon, AT&T and BellSouth have participated jointly in a Gigabit passive optical network (GPON) request for proposal (RFP). GPON will offer 10 times as much capacity as compared to current capacity. The current ATM-based passive optical network (PON) can deliver up to 100 MB/s of capacity. Considering the future interactive applications GPON will be boon for IPTV deployment. Verizon is using the MOCA — multimedia over coax cable — specification for routing signals in the home and will integrate MOCA into set-top boxes by the second quarter 2006. (MOCA certainly deserves one post on this enigmatic blog :)) Isn't it)While Verizon's network is costing about five times more to build than AT&T's, it will offer almost limitless bandwidth. AT&T's network, on the other hand will initially offer about 15Mbps to 20Mbps. And even though advances in DSL technology will allow it to push up these speeds, it will always be more limited than Verizon's fiber network.
Because of this limitless bandwidth, Verizon is using MPEG-2 encoding (not MPEG-4 AVC or Windows Media, which require half the bandwidth or less); allowing it to implement TV with today’s lower-cost MPEG-2 gear. The potential is there to have two different multi-stream PVR-enabled set-top devices in separate rooms, to simultaneously watch one high-definition program while recording another--a total of four program streams, even if one or more of them were in high-definition. Inside the home, Verizon will be using three different Motorola set-top boxes — one standard definition, one that includes a high-definition decoder and one with an integrated digital video recorder. The company will use existing in-home coax to transmit between the optical network units on the side of the home and TVs for both linear and VOD programming. Video entering as an IP stream will be sent to Motorola's set-tops using Multimedia Over Coax (MOCA) technology. Those set-tops, based on the vendor's DCT cable line, also are something of a hybrid because they can receive QAM video but also IP because of the integrated MOCA technology.
Set Top Box (STB)
The Motorola QIP family of set-tops features both traditional RF video, using quadrature amplication modulation (QAM) and IP video, and incorporates the multimedia over cable (MoCA) specification for sharing content within the home over existing coaxial cable. The dual QAM-IP capabilities are an important part of Verizon's FiOS offering, since the company is using RF to deliver basic cable programming and IPTV for its video-on-demand and other advanced services.
Finally: Moolah
The way Verizon sees it, the market for pay TV and online music and gaming adds up to $120 billion per year, or about $29 billion worth of opportunity within the geographic footprint the company serves.
Video-on-demand (VOD) will follow a similar path with some being stored at the hub office on local servers. However, from the hub office, linear programming from the cable networks will be sent to local central offices and over the FTTP network using RF technology while all VOD content and the interactive program guide will come into the home over IP. Unlike SBC Communications and BellSouth, which have committed to launching all-IP video networks, Verizon believes mixing formats is more appropriate given the state of the technology.Cable TV providers typically have a 860-MHz channel to serve each house, and have to divvy up that capacity if they want to add services such as video on demand, Internet access and VoIP.
Verizon delivers three wavelengths of light to each house: a 860-MHz video channel; a 622Mbps channel for voice, data and video on demand; and a 155Mbps return channel for voice and data (the 622M and 155Mbps channels are shared by up to 32 households).Using different channels means Verizon can more readily accommodate changing demands without sacrificing one option to offer another.Unlike cable operators it doesn't use up digital channel capacity to also offer voice, VOD and information services, which consume 10 times the bandwidth of video channels. Verizon is offerring analog because there is a group of people who don't want to have a set-top on every TV set. They want that TV set in the kitchen or the basement to be able to get basic cable channels on a cable-ready TV.
Verizon does surrender some of its 860 MHz of RF capacity to provide 24 channels of analog, but provides all other service — voice over IP, information services and VOD — via IP streams that don't consume any channel capacity. That's a distinct advantage over cable companies. Companies such as AT&T, which is offerring IPTV over a fiber-to-the-node network, can't deliver multiple HD channels as Verizon will be able to over its FiOS FTTP network. By using IP streams within the home network, Verizon will soon be able to offer its TV customers multi-room DVR capability that can record two HD channels simultaneously, while delivering two others for immediate viewing.
Foreseeing the future, Verizon, AT&T and BellSouth have participated jointly in a Gigabit passive optical network (GPON) request for proposal (RFP). GPON will offer 10 times as much capacity as compared to current capacity. The current ATM-based passive optical network (PON) can deliver up to 100 MB/s of capacity. Considering the future interactive applications GPON will be boon for IPTV deployment. Verizon is using the MOCA — multimedia over coax cable — specification for routing signals in the home and will integrate MOCA into set-top boxes by the second quarter 2006. (MOCA certainly deserves one post on this enigmatic blog :)) Isn't it)While Verizon's network is costing about five times more to build than AT&T's, it will offer almost limitless bandwidth. AT&T's network, on the other hand will initially offer about 15Mbps to 20Mbps. And even though advances in DSL technology will allow it to push up these speeds, it will always be more limited than Verizon's fiber network.
Because of this limitless bandwidth, Verizon is using MPEG-2 encoding (not MPEG-4 AVC or Windows Media, which require half the bandwidth or less); allowing it to implement TV with today’s lower-cost MPEG-2 gear. The potential is there to have two different multi-stream PVR-enabled set-top devices in separate rooms, to simultaneously watch one high-definition program while recording another--a total of four program streams, even if one or more of them were in high-definition. Inside the home, Verizon will be using three different Motorola set-top boxes — one standard definition, one that includes a high-definition decoder and one with an integrated digital video recorder. The company will use existing in-home coax to transmit between the optical network units on the side of the home and TVs for both linear and VOD programming. Video entering as an IP stream will be sent to Motorola's set-tops using Multimedia Over Coax (MOCA) technology. Those set-tops, based on the vendor's DCT cable line, also are something of a hybrid because they can receive QAM video but also IP because of the integrated MOCA technology.
Set Top Box (STB)
The Motorola QIP family of set-tops features both traditional RF video, using quadrature amplication modulation (QAM) and IP video, and incorporates the multimedia over cable (MoCA) specification for sharing content within the home over existing coaxial cable. The dual QAM-IP capabilities are an important part of Verizon's FiOS offering, since the company is using RF to deliver basic cable programming and IPTV for its video-on-demand and other advanced services.
Finally: Moolah
The way Verizon sees it, the market for pay TV and online music and gaming adds up to $120 billion per year, or about $29 billion worth of opportunity within the geographic footprint the company serves.
Verizon's FiOS TV: Overview
Service Highlights
* A broad collection of all-digital programming and compelling consumer choice.
* A lead offer with more than 180 all-digital video and music channels, for $34.95 a month with Verizon FiOS Internet Service or a qualifying voice plan for $39.95 a month as a stand-alone service.
* More than 20 high-definition channels, with extraordinary clarity and theater-quality sound.
* More than 2,200 On Demand titles available to customers now, increasing to over 3,500 titles in the next several months. Many of them are free.
* Channels grouped by genres such as entertainment, sports, news, shopping, movies and family, making it easy for audiences to find their favorite programming.
* An easy-to-use interactive programming guide that integrates HD programming, On Demand content and the digital video recorder along with broadcast television into a seamless user experience.
* A dual-tuner, HD-capable DVR that gives customers the freedom to pause and rewind live TV, record one show while watching another, and fast forward to their favorite part of the program - all without a VCR, tapes or DVDs.
Verizon has come up with “FiOS TV Widgets”. This service is now available at no extra charge to Verizon’s fiber optic television subscribers, providing access to real-time local traffic and weather information. Widgets displays local traffic and weather based on the customer’s ZIP code. The first time customers access the service, they use their remote control to pull down a Widgets menu from the FiOS TV Interactive Programming Guide and enter their five-digit ZIP code on the keypad. Verizon-developed software manages the interaction between the remote control and the Web server where the Widgets traffic and weather information is stored.Once retrieved, weather and traffic are displayed individually beneath the current programming. After setting up the service, customers can access Widgets simply by pressing a button on the remote. To view traffic and weather from across the country, they can return to the menu and enter a different ZIP code. Verizon says it is making Widgets available by market, and deployment will be completed with the north Texas market in the next several weeks.This move is reportedly just the first stage of Verizon’s interactive IPTV plans. Later this year, the telecom giant plans to offer a multi-room DVR solution, and also allow customers to view digital photos on a TV screen.
Service Areas
FiOS TV provides a broad collection of all-digital programming with more than 400 total channels, two-dozen high-definition channels and video on demand. It is delivered over Verizon’s fiber-to-the-premises network to more than 50 communities in seven states: California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and Texas. Verizon is pressing Congress to pass a law that would allow it to bypass local TV franchising authorities so it could deploy video services more quickly, but in the meantime it is slogging away town by town, house by house.Residents in these communities who are FiOS TV-eligible now have the option to trim their monthly bills by bundling FiOS TV service, FiOS Internet service and the Verizon Freedom Value unlimited calling plan, all for $104.85.Verizon has worked hard to negotiate franchise agreements for cable TV over the past two years. Company is currently building the network in parts of 16 states. By the end of last year, Verizon had passed some 3 million homes with the new technology and expects to pass 3 million more this year. The company began building the network in 2004. Verizon is spending $20 billion to build out a fiber-optic network that will have far more speed, capacity, and flexibility than its existing copper-wire system. The rollout is running ahead of schedule, but so are many of the costs.
* A broad collection of all-digital programming and compelling consumer choice.
* A lead offer with more than 180 all-digital video and music channels, for $34.95 a month with Verizon FiOS Internet Service or a qualifying voice plan for $39.95 a month as a stand-alone service.
* More than 20 high-definition channels, with extraordinary clarity and theater-quality sound.
* More than 2,200 On Demand titles available to customers now, increasing to over 3,500 titles in the next several months. Many of them are free.
* Channels grouped by genres such as entertainment, sports, news, shopping, movies and family, making it easy for audiences to find their favorite programming.
* An easy-to-use interactive programming guide that integrates HD programming, On Demand content and the digital video recorder along with broadcast television into a seamless user experience.
* A dual-tuner, HD-capable DVR that gives customers the freedom to pause and rewind live TV, record one show while watching another, and fast forward to their favorite part of the program - all without a VCR, tapes or DVDs.
Verizon has come up with “FiOS TV Widgets”. This service is now available at no extra charge to Verizon’s fiber optic television subscribers, providing access to real-time local traffic and weather information. Widgets displays local traffic and weather based on the customer’s ZIP code. The first time customers access the service, they use their remote control to pull down a Widgets menu from the FiOS TV Interactive Programming Guide and enter their five-digit ZIP code on the keypad. Verizon-developed software manages the interaction between the remote control and the Web server where the Widgets traffic and weather information is stored.Once retrieved, weather and traffic are displayed individually beneath the current programming. After setting up the service, customers can access Widgets simply by pressing a button on the remote. To view traffic and weather from across the country, they can return to the menu and enter a different ZIP code. Verizon says it is making Widgets available by market, and deployment will be completed with the north Texas market in the next several weeks.This move is reportedly just the first stage of Verizon’s interactive IPTV plans. Later this year, the telecom giant plans to offer a multi-room DVR solution, and also allow customers to view digital photos on a TV screen.
Service Areas
FiOS TV provides a broad collection of all-digital programming with more than 400 total channels, two-dozen high-definition channels and video on demand. It is delivered over Verizon’s fiber-to-the-premises network to more than 50 communities in seven states: California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and Texas. Verizon is pressing Congress to pass a law that would allow it to bypass local TV franchising authorities so it could deploy video services more quickly, but in the meantime it is slogging away town by town, house by house.Residents in these communities who are FiOS TV-eligible now have the option to trim their monthly bills by bundling FiOS TV service, FiOS Internet service and the Verizon Freedom Value unlimited calling plan, all for $104.85.Verizon has worked hard to negotiate franchise agreements for cable TV over the past two years. Company is currently building the network in parts of 16 states. By the end of last year, Verizon had passed some 3 million homes with the new technology and expects to pass 3 million more this year. The company began building the network in 2004. Verizon is spending $20 billion to build out a fiber-optic network that will have far more speed, capacity, and flexibility than its existing copper-wire system. The rollout is running ahead of schedule, but so are many of the costs.
Verizon's FiOS TV: Router, Cost and Pricing
Router
The newly launched Broadband Home Router will be the centerpiece of verizon customer’s home network. The new router – designed and built to Verizon’s specifications and supplied by Actiontec Electronics of Sunnyvale, Calif. – is the basis of Verizon’s digital home architecture, and is capable of providing connectivity to the FiOS network at speeds of up to100 megabits per second (Mbps). It leverages existing in-home wiring for broadband data and video signals and delivers easy, high-quality, more reliable home-networking solutions to provide connectivity to the increasing number of connected consumer devices. The new broadband home router also supports remote management that uses new industry standards known as TR-069, enabling Verizon to perform troubleshooting without having to dispatch a technician. Customers who purchase Verizon’s FiOS Internet Service products, as well as those who order FiOS TV, will automatically receive the new router as part of the installation.
Known as Actiontec’s model MI-424-WR, the new broadband home router was built to Verizon’ specifications and allows Verizon to accomplish its goal of providing, high-quality managed broadband services over a unified home network to all connected devices. This any-to-any device capability allows transmission of FiOS data and video signals between the Internet and consumer devices in any room, enabling a true digital home experience.
The optical network terminal (ONT) where Verizon’s fiber terminates at the customer’s home will soon be upgraded with technology similar to the Broadband Home Router. This will minimize installation disruption for Verizon customers because existing in-home coaxial wiring can be used instead of the Ethernet cable that the company has been installing between the ONT and the router. This results in savings for Verizon through shorter installation times, increased productivity and reduced installation expenses.
In addition, the new router’s wireless capability allows the customer to connect with other wireless card-equipped computers within the home. The Actiontec router’s 100 Mbps capability allows Verizon to continue to provide higher data speeds to the customer, as they become available in the future, without having to install a new router or other equipment in the customer’s home. Verizon’s FTTP network is capable of providing such speeds. In addition, the new router allows Verizon to remotely assist customers in configuring it to meet specific needs within the home. Verizon also provides customers a business-class Internet firewall on the router.
Cost
Because most homes already have coaxial cable installed in several rooms, Verizon can significantly reduce its FiOS installation costs by using existing cabling to connect home computers to its broadband service. Today, Verizon installs Category 5 cabling for customers who have signed up for a year of broadband service free of charge. Customers choosing a month-to-month plan, must pay $69.99 for the installation. This was in addition to the $1,400 per home the company spent digging up neighborhood streets and stringing fiber on telephone poles. Verizon hopes to reduce these costs significantly in 2006. Specifically, it plans to cut the cost of laying new fiber in neighborhoods to $890 per home and reduce the cost of home installation to $715 per home.In late February, Verizon estimated its costs nearly $1,000 to bring fiber near a home. The cost to bring fiber into a home is falling, but haven't yet reached their target cost of $717 per installation. Long installs are a potential money pit for Verizon and a major hassle for customers, who in most cases have to take an entire day off to be there. On an average it takes 6 hours to install FiOS TV. Normally there are five to six followup calls just to make sure everything is working well.
Pricing
The reasons consumers give for switching to Verizon's fiber-optic service vary. Some are turned off by the steady rate increases of cable companies. Some lust for the picture quality and speed of FiOS. Some merely like the convenience of having all their telecommunications services, including wireless, on one bill.
For example In Woburn, Verizon is competing against two cable companies, Comcast and RCN, and two satellite companies, DirecTV and Dish TV. Verizon's FiOS TV and Internet monthly services cost $40 apiece or $70 as a bundle, plus $4 to $13 for a set-top box. Phone plans vary, with unlimited domestic calling costing anywhere from $25 to $40, depending on the features and type of service. Comparable packages at competitors cost more, but apples-to-apples comparisons are difficult. Both Comcast and RCN are currently offering three-way bundles that cost roughly $100, although both bundles have fewer TV channels than Verizon. Comcast's bundle price expires after 12 months and then rises to $121. Moreover according to Verizon, their fiber will be capable of carrying far more content at faster speeds than cable. The top Internet speed now is 30 megabits per second, but speeds of 100 megabits per second may be possible as early as next year.
Comcast, after completing a major overhaul of its network in 2003, has ratcheted up the speeds of its Internet service, beefed up its video-on-demand offerings to 7,000 programs, and cut customer complaints with its four call centers in Massachusetts. The cable giant is also preparing to take another bite out of Verizon later this year by launching a wireless phone service that will run on the Sprint network.
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