Triple-Play Service Deployment

In North America, cable operators have been adding VoIP or digital voice services
and have won over 3 million RBOC customers in the process. With Cox and
Comcast alone controlling nearly 30 million video subscribers, the revenue
potential of adding voice services to even a fraction of these subscribers is too
attractive to pass up. In response, both AT&T and Verizon are building out
advanced broadband networks to support the triple play. AT&T’s Project
Lightspeed, which is in the early stages of deployment, uses both copper based
DSL and fiber based PON, and Verizon’s FiOS network, based on PON, are
delivering triple-play services incorporating advanced IPTV.
In Europe, competitive providers, such as FastWeb in Italy, have achieved notable
success in securing triple-play subscribers. Incumbent providers around the
region are scrambling to respond with their own offerings. At the end of 2006,
FastWeb (which was acquired by Swisscom) had approximately 300,000 tripleplay
subscribers, representing 35% of their subscriber base. Using a combination
of PON, fiber Ethernet, and DSL, FastWeb has been able to secure traditional
Telecom Italia customers throughout major cities with high population densities.
In France, Iliad’s Free division reported that 1.3 million subscribers have signed
up for its triple-play service and that nearly 650,000 subscribers use their high
speed data and VoIP bundle. Iliad’s success has forced incumbent France Telecom
to expedite the rollout of its own triple play service, and already the carrier has
secured nearly 850,000 subscribers for its Orange TV IPTV service.
In Hong Kong, PCCW has rolled out the largest IPTV network of any telco in the
world. Spurred by competition from Wharf Cable, the incumbent video provider,
PCCW leveraged its substantial voice and high speed data subscriber base and
quickly built out its NOW Broadband TV service, which gives subscribers a la
carte channel options. At the end of August 2007, PCCW reported over 850,000
NOW Broadband TV subscribers. But more interestingly, adding video services
has stopped the hemorrhaging of subscriber lines from a peak of 38,000 lost lines
per month in 2003 to a net addition of nearly 40,000 lines in early 2007. In Japan,
NTT East and West are using PON and DSL technologies to deliver triple-play
services.
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