02-03 - TELE-satellite International Magazine

starts at USD 29.99 per month, while a la carte
channels are offered starting from USD 3.99.
TWIN LAKES TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE
LAUNCHES IPTV TRIALS
Twin Lakes Telephone Cooperative Corporation
(Twin Lakes), based in the state of Tennessee,
has installed and successfully tested its new
IPTV services, based on a platform supplied
by Infinite Video, a subsidiary of Canadian firm
Event Technologies. With board approval, Twin
Lakes will contract to deploy the system to offer
11 broadcast channels over its existing DSL
network, including local television programming.
L A T I N A M E R I C A
COLOMBIA
EMCALI AIMS FOR 13,000 IPTV CLIENTS
Colombian multi-utility Emcali expects to reach
approximately 13,000 IPTV subscribers once the
company launches the service. The company,
which serves the city of Cali, currently has 70,000
clients in the broadband segment. National TV
services regulator CNTV will soon open a bidding
process for five licenses for pay-TV services,
with Emcali expected to bid for one. ZTE has
been selected as the technological partner.
VENEZUELA
VENESAT-1 LAUNCHED INTO ORBIT
The country’s first satellite Simon Bolivar or
Venesat-1 was successfully launched on October
29 as part of a joint project with China that
started three years ago. The whole project is to
cost USD 406 million and the Venesat-1, with a
designed life of 15 years, will be used in broadcasting,
distance learning, medical services,
among others. The satellite became operational
on December 20. Venezuela intends to launch
its second satellite, for its own use, in 2013.
A S I A
GOLDSTONE TO LAUNCH IPTV
SERVICES IN MALAYSIA, THAILAND
Software technology and services company
Goldstone Technologies will launch IPTV services
in two South-East Asian countries—Malaysia
and Thailand. Goldstone has tied-up with
MOL AccessPortal Berhad (MOL) of Malaysia
to launch the IPTV service in Malaysia.
ORBITAL COMPLETES WORK
ON NSS-9 SATELLITE
Orbital Sciences Corporation (ORB) has
completed final testing on the SES New Skies
NSS-9 commercial communications satellite.
The NSS-9 will now be stored at the company’s
Dulles (Virginia) facilities until the company is
notified of the launch date. Orbital stated that
the spacecraft was designed, manufactured
and tested in approximately 22 months from
the start of the contract to the completion of the
pre-shipment review. NSS-9 carries 28 active
C-band transponders and features three beams
that can be interconnected on a transponderby-transponder
basis: a global beam providing
coverage of the entire earth visible from
its 183 degrees East orbit slot, another beam
covering Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines,
Japan, China, Korea and the Pacific Islands,
and a third beam providing coverage and connectivity
to the U.S., Hawaii and Polynesia.
IPTV TO REACH 22.4 MILLION
SUBSCRIBERS BY 2013
Market research firm Frost & Sullivan has estimated
that the number of IPTV subscribers across 13
countries in the Asia-Pacific region may grow to
22.4 million by 2013. The latest research titled
“IPTV Business Case” predicts that IPTV subscription
will grow by an amazing 32.7 per cent over the
next four years. Of the 13 countries, the researcher
says, eight had commercial IPTV services in 2007,
while the rest are conducting trials for deployments
over the coming months. Asia-Pacific accounted
for about a third of the global IPTV subscriber base
last year. While Hong Kong is leading the group with
1.02 million subscribers, Mainland China is running
close behind with 0.93 million customers, a figure
that makes up 22.7 percent of the region’s market.
CHINA
CHINA TELECOM TOPS 1.5
MILLION IPTV SUBSCRIBERS
China Telecom passed 1.51 million IPTV subscribers
by the end of the third quarter of this year,
according to Interfax China, compared to 940,000
subscribers reported in May of this year. The
service is provided in cooperation with Shanghai
Media Group (SMG) and has been available in
major cities such as Shanghai, Jiangxu, Guangdong,
Zhejiang and Shaanxi since 2005, offering
broadcast and on-demand content, including
high-definition, as well as information services.
JIANGSU PROVINCE IPTV
SUBSCRIBERS UP 471 PERCENT
The number of IPTV subscribers in China’s Jiangsu
Province, located on the east coast of the country,
rose by 471% in the first nine months of this year,
according to Interfax China, making this the biggest
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