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Tag: CMB

  • Hathway selects Magnaquest as SMS provider for digital pay TV operations

    Hathway selects Magnaquest as SMS provider for digital pay TV operations

    MUMBAI: Hathway Cable & Datacom is integrating its broadband and digital pay TV billing solutions. The multi-system operator (MSO) has selected MagnaQuest as its subscriber management system (SMS) provider for both the services.

    Earlier, when conditional access system (CAS) was to be implemented in 2003, Hathway had chosen Entriq (formerly known as Mindport as the SMS provider.

    Hathway was already using MagnaQuest’s MQSubscribe, a customer management and billing solution (CMB), for the past two years. “Eventually broadband, digital cable and voice services will converge. So we decided to deploy MQSubscribe for rolling out our digital pay TV services as well. We have been successfully using their billing solution for our broadband internet business for the past two years and found the system to be robust and scalable,” says Hathway Cable & Datacom MD and CEO K Jayaraman.

    Hathway Cable & Datacom will use MQSubscribe to handle subscriber information, billing, inventory and logistics management and customer care. MQSubscribe is seamlessly integrated with NDS CAS for automatic activation and deactivation of subscriptions.

    Says MagnaQuest CEO Vijay Debbad, “Apart from our domain expertise, solution flexibility and scalability, we believe it is our commitment and understanding of the Indian Pay TV industry that has enabled us to be chosen by Hathway Cable & Datacom.”

    MagnaQuest recently bagged a contract to manage the broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) billing services of Hyperia Ltd, Nigeria’s leading internet service provider.

  • Hong Kong’s PCCW to broadcast real-time TV over 3G network

    Hong Kong’s PCCW to broadcast real-time TV over 3G network

    MUMBAI: The Hong Kong-based PCCW Mobile announced it has become the world’s first mobile provider to broadcast real-time TV over its 3G network, using Cell Multimedia Broadcast (CMB) technology.

    The service was demonstrated today by PCCW executive director Alex Arena at a keynote address at the 2006 Broadband World Forum Asia, being held in Hong Kong.

    PCCW will begin broadcasting programming from its IPTV service, now TV, to its 3G mobile trial customer base, using the CMB technology. The technology, developed by Huawei Technologies, allows broadcasts of television programming to 3G phones, states an official release.

    The service is being progressively rolled out throughout Hong Kong, with deployment begun in Hong Kong’s MTR underground railway system nearly complete. Deployment throughout Hong Kong will be completed by end-June, making mobile TV available to all 110,000 users on PCCW mobile’s 3G trial, the release adds.

    “This is a significant innovation by PCCW, allowing us to leverage our extensive content line-up to more people, across more of our platforms, fixed and mobile,” PCCW executive director Alex Arena said. “We are excited to bring this groundbreaking 3G technology to our customers – another world first for us.”

    CMB technology allows continuous broadcast feeds of TV programming over the 3G mobile network, reaching many more people simultaneously than other current 3G technologies. The technology is ideal for high density urban areas, including underground railways and other forms of public transport. With broadcast technology, network capacity can support large numbers of concurrent users with minimal impact on the network loading, allowing for cost-effective delivery.

    Initial program offers over the mobile network will include now TV’s Cantonese-language Business News Channel and other news and sports content. Other entertainment and infotainment programming will be added in time. Sports content from ESPN STAR Sports will be available in two weeks time, including ESPN’s ever-popular SportsCenter news program. Sports event content from Sportev, including action, from next season’s Barclays English Premier League (2006-07), will be available when the football season begins in August, the release informs.