IOL to Provide IPTV Via MTNL, BSNL Network

It is bonanza time for subscribers of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). Mumbai-based India OnLine Broadband (IOL), which is among the country's first broadband companies, has signed a content delivery network agreement with MTNL and BSNL.

The tie-up will allow IOL Broadband access to over two lakh ADSL Broadband subscribers of MTNL, to offer them Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) content and Video-On-Demand (VOD). The service will be made available on a preferential basis first to all MTNL broadband subscribers and then to MTNL landline subscribers from October 21.

IPTV will offer subscribers about 24 TV channels (including some pay channels) and will include value added services such as Real Time Interactive TV, VOD, Music-on-Demand, Gaming-On-Demand, Pause and Play, Time Shifted Television Viewing and eLearning. With this, several hundred Bollywood and Hollywood movies are expected to be made available-on-demand via MTNL's network. For this venture, IOL will provide the set-top boxes.

Besides, using a state-of-the-art Network Center plus its own Metro Fiber Ethernet Network, IOL Broadband has already interconnected its network with the MTNL and BSNL ADSL network. With this agreement, MTNL and BSNL subscribers will get television, telephone and broadband internet services on one platform.

“The IPTV revolution will change the way people watch TV. IPTV will now allow users to select and watch video content, music, movies and other content over a network as part of our interactive television system,” says A. S. Oberai, executive director.

IOL has recently taken the Sony studios on a leave and license basis that will enable the company to create their own infotainment content such as documentaries, reality shows and game shows. In case IOL reaches a critical mass of subscribers of IPTV, the company is thinking of a possibility to create a platform for film producers to sell their films and subscribers can watch films on the day of its release in the comfort of their homes. When asked about the possibility of piracy of the films, Oberai says, “IPTV is least prone to piracy and our Digital Rights Management will not allow subscribers to download any content.”

Next on the cards for IOL is Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol which is due to start later this year