[waytobala]

Indian telecommunications operator BSNL is ready to roll out an internet protocol television (IPTV) service, with high speed broadband connection, delivered over optical fibre, also on the cards for customers in Goa.

The IPTV "network is ready and we can feed the service", Sujeet Kumar, BSNL's deputy general manager told The Times of India, however the company is currently appointing a franchisee to operate the new service.

Providing both live television and video on demand, a monthly subscription charge for the IPTV service, after the purchase of a set top box, will set customers back between INR 100 and 300, according to the report.

BSNL has already launched IPTV in nearby Kolhapur, Pune, and other cities including Nagpur, Jaipur and Bangalore, though faced delays in Goa while a service operator was found and high speed broadband rolled out.

The GPON is also planned for customers in Goa, providing them with internet speeds of up to 100 Mbps – up from existing speeds on copper telephone wires of about 8 Mbps. This increase will provide far superior delivery of streamed video for the IPTV service, says Kumar.

"We have already installed the equipment in 13 of our exchanges. But our difficulty is to lay fibre optic cables into individual homes and flats because building residents don't allow us to lay the cables on walls where the cables will spoil the aesthetics," Kumar told the newspaper.

BSNL is currently in discussion with building contractors in Dona Paula, Panaji and Socorro about installing fibre optic cable in structures under construction.

-Rapid TV News