1. INTRODUCTION
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is a service where the customers who are registered subscribers of this system can get digital TV signals through their landline telephone connections, rather than the traditional method of cable lines.? This delivery of digital television is made possible by using Internet Protocol over a broadband connection, usually in a managed network rather than the public Internet to preserve quality of service.
IPTV generally includes delivery of broadcast TV, movies on demand and other interactive multimedia services over a secure, end-to-end operator managed broadband IP data network with desired QOS to the public. These systems may also include Internet services such as Web access and VOIP where it may be called Triple Play and is typically supplied by a broadband operator using the same infrastructure. For this purpose viewers will need a broadband connection and a set-top-box to send and receive requests.? IPTV is not the Internet Video that simply allows users to watch videos, like movie previews and web-cams, over the Internet, but also offers revenue-generating opportunities for the telecom and cable service providers.
In the past, this technology has been restricted by low broadband availability. In the coming years, however, residential IPTV is expected to grow at a fast pace as broadband was available to more than 200 million households worldwide in the year 2005 and expected to grow to 400 million by the year 2010. Many of the world's major telecommunications providers are exploring IPTV as a new revenue opportunity from their existing markets and as a defensive measure against similar action being taken by more conventional Cable Television services.
In India, however, the market for TV and video is far from empty. There is a huge cable and satellite TV infrastructure (with nearly 50 million subscribers) to contend with. Private telecommunication companies have been busy working out strategies with their content providers and equipment/software partners, to enter into the market. Their success, however, critically depends on the quality and range of services they offer in comparison to cable TV operators.?
2. ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Information technology is the only solution for accomplishing this project of IPTV. Various networking components, hardware as well as software are required along with the communication devices to implement IPTV connectivity for the subscriber. Without IT solution it is not possible to have all three VOICE, DATA, VIDEO packets to be transmitted over same media (copper wire). The basic objective is to merge all three different types of data packets at the time of transmission to service provider end and to assimilate these three different data packet in to three devices as their input like voice to telephone, data to computer and video to television at the subscriber end. Information technology is the only way for the telecom company to provide television services to their subscribers along with the voice and broadband services (INTERNET).
It is IT which has enabled these three different kinds of transmissions to be done over a single media without over lapping each other. This is only possible, by making effective use of the available bandwidth on the copper media and subsequently defining their independent frequency bands i.e. data band, voice band and video band. At the subscriber end there is a need of a small device known a splitter, which segregates the different data packets as per their frequencies. While, at the service provider end, NOC (network operation control is performed) aggregates the three different traffic coming from satellites (video signals), internet cloud (data signals) and exchange (voice signals) with the help of high end routers (juniper, Cisco). Beside this, some RAS servers (remote access dialing servers) are also used to authenticate the different subscribers at the time of connectivity. From NOC traffics are forwarded to local exchange, through optical fibers which was already present as telecom infrastructure and from local exchange to CPE (customer premises equipment) through copper wires. Thus, without the use of IT solutions this implementation would not have been possible.
3. ROLE OF SERVICE PROVIDERS
There was tough competition among the different telecom company?s in the telecom industry for their survival. Each company was putting great efforts in maintaining and providing services of voice and data. Before, IPTV was brought as a product of the company, there were only one or two products namely telephone and internet connectivity, provided by the company. Due to the tough competition, their customer base was smaller and it was getting tough to survive with only two types of products in the market.
Innovation
So, there was a need of innovative ideas for better growth of the company, with the existing infrastructure. As per the survey done by the organization, it was observed that subscribers were looking for single point of contact with their service provider for all the services being used by them; either it is telephone, internet or television. The major short coming of the traditional cable TV operators was unavailability of video on demand. Customers were looking for such services which can be availed as per their availability of time. This limitation of DTH (Direct to home) services was overcome with the innovative idea of IPTV.?
Impact on Business
Every plan has an impact after successful completion of the project. Same was the case with the companies who launched IPTV, as one of the additional product on their existing infrastructure. In addition to this, the companies who took this initiative, their customer base was increased and as a result they gained a competitive edge. The company was able to meet the customer?s need as well as demand, and as a result the number of subscribers started increasing as more and more people became aware of the product and services accompanied. In India, companies like BSNL and MTNL are the leading service provider of IPTV.
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