ITV

Tag: telecom

  • BroVis wireless networks announces global expansion

    BroVis wireless networks announces global expansion

    MUMBAI: Brovis Wireless Networks (BroVis), a global provider of next-generation broadband wireless infrastructure systems and solutions, has started sales, marketing and manufacturing operations in the south east asia region comprising of 10 countries.

    As part of this global expansion initiative, BroVis has signed a comprehensive strategic partnership with Iconbase SDN BHD, Malaysia, a provider of telecom and wireless products, with regional offices in many south east asia regions.
    Iconbase will distribute and support BroVis products in 10 south east asia countries including Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. BroVis will establish its second production unit (the first being in Chennai) in Kuala Lumpur for local consumption as well as exports, asserts an official release.

    BroVis has completed its series B financing of US$3 Million led by Parakletos at Ventures, based in Menlo Park, CA, USA. The investment will fuel global expansion as well as product development activities.

    In conjunction with this funding and expansion, Silicon Valley Venture capitalist and head Parakletos at Venture Dr. Paul Kim has joined the BroVis board of directors as chairman. The other two board members are , BroVis founder and CEO Muthu Logan, and BroVis technology strategist and founding investor Babu Mandava.

    “Fresh investments pouring in would strengthen our expansion activities and also enable us to invest in acquiring necessary resources. Value addition through R&D is indispensable and we would continue to excel in the same” said BroVis founder and chief executive officer Muthu Logan.

    The Brovis broadcell and radio-zone solutions deliver a comprehensive solution for telcos, service providers and corporate campus network managers, enabling fast deployment and simple integration into existing networks. NLOS capabilities allow operators to reach more customers while reducing overall costs.

    Brovis is getting aggressive in the Indian market as well as expanding in the newer regions. The firm is set to launch a whole new range of wireless products by this fiscal year end. The new product line includes enhanced version of its current product line as well as new product lines like wireless dynamic mesh routers and Wi-Max based solutions, added the release.

  • Trilogy launches Auto, telecom forecasts service in India

    BANGALORE: Business services provider Trilogy has announced the launch of its business services for the telecom and automobile sectors in India.

    A few years ago, Trilogy changed their business model from one of software sellers to that of delivering guaranteed business value for its clients. It has so far worked exclusively with Fortune 1000 companies in the US.

    Trilogy is looking to enter the Indian market with what they claim are services proven in the US with companies in the Auto sector such as Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Nissan, and Goodyear etc. Trilogy president & CEO Joe Liemandt says that using patented technologies, Trilogy can predict consumer desires three months before vehicle launch, enabling OEM’s to drastically improve retail inventory mix.

    This is done purely by profiling surfers to websites dedicated for this purpose. Traffic to these sites could be directed through search engines such as Yahoo! and Google.

    Trilogy claims to have the wherewithal to determine whether the surfer is a serious buyer, a child, a competitor, etc. Sanjay Nigam (Ex-Maruti Udyog) has been roped in as director to head this service.

    For the telecom sector, Trilogy India team has created what Liemandt claims is one of the best tools that his company has ever launched – Determine the best plan for a postpaid mobile user offered by his service provider just by feeding in the details of the last e-bill.

    This service has already been activated in Karnataka on 15 September, 2006 on www.Yourbillbuddy.com, Virendra Gupta, director-telecom services, said. A formal announcement with all the service providers for the Karnataka circle is expected shortly. This will greatly help bring down the churn and increase ARPU from existing customers. Trilogy claims that operators have shown significant interest in the service. An all India roll out can be expected in about six months.

     

  • B’cast, telecom industry divided on IPTV norms

    B’cast, telecom industry divided on IPTV norms

    NEW DELHI: A majority of broadcast industry stakeholders are against IPTV separated from cable service and have said this is likely to create more problems in an already vexed industry.

    A consultation paper issued by the broadcast regulator on IPTV and amendment in the Cable TV Act has drawn varied comments from stakeholders, including that IPTV should not be separated from cable TV and laws regulating it.

    “IPTV is similar to cable services in terms of content and mode of delivery. It would be appropriate to categorize it as a cable service rather than a telecom service under (the) Telegraph Act,” DTH licence holder ASC Enterprises has said.

    Agreeing with ASC is MSO Alliance, an apex body of multi-system operators in the country, which has sated that IPTV should not be dubbed a different service from cable TV.

    “Given the nature of IPTV services, which is akin to cable services, the effort on the part of regulator should be to propose amendments which would serve the purpose of keeping IPTV within cable services domain, rather than to suggest the ones which would take them away from the Cable Network Regulation Act,” MSO Alliance has said in reply to a consultation paper issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

    On the other hand, Star has said that treating IPTV differently from cable services, as had been suggested by Trai in its consultation paper, would give undue advantage to telecom companies that have been proposing to start IPTV services.

    “In the absence of parity in FDI norms, telecom operators would continue to enjoy better access to the capital required for digital broadband services. This would be to the detriment of other service providers like cable and DTH,” Star has informed Trai.

    Presently in India, foreign investment in cable TV is capped at 49 per cent, while the government has okayed a proposal to raise the limit in telecom services to 74 per cent.

    Trai had invited comments from industry stakeholders on proposed amendments in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and existing telecom licenses for facilitation of growth of IPTV services.

    The basic intention behind the proposed amendments in the Cable Television (Regulation) Act, 1995 was to keep the IPTV service outside the definition of `cable services’.

    This means that IPTV service providers would not be covered in the definition of `cable operator’ and the Unified Access Service network used for provision of IPTV services will not get covered by the definition of `cable television network’ under the Cable Act.

    The 13 stakeholders that had got back to Trai with their comments on the issue include the following: NDS, ASC Enterprises Ltd, MSO Alliance, Cable Operators Federation of India, Hathway Cable & Datacom Private Limited, Reliance Infocomm Ltd, Ortel Communications Ltd, Zee Network, Star India, Tata Teleservices Ltd and the Internet Service Providers’ Association of India

  • American Telecom services launches Pay N’ Talk phone on cable television

    American Telecom services launches Pay N’ Talk phone on cable television

    MUMBAI: American Telecom Services, Inc., has launched a pilot of three complementary two-minute Direct Response Television (DRTV) spots to promote the Pay N’ Talk bundled service program with cordless multi-handset phones powered by IDT Telecom. The series of short-form TV spots will air on multiple occasions on several national cable networks

    The company is a provider of both internet phones and Pay N’ Talk pre-paid long distance communication services bundled with cordless multi-handset phones.

    This initiative is intended to expand brand awareness of American telecom as well as attempting to educate the consumer on the value of the Pay N’ Talk service program. This form of DRTV supports the marketing plan to drive consumer sales through retail channels, states an official release.

    The DRTV spots feature Pay N’ Talk home phones bundled with free minutes that provide consumers with an introduction to the Pay N’ Talk service bundle which provides the option to purchase more minutes at some of the lowest long distance rates in the industry, by simply pressing the “Money Saving Green Button” that appears on every telephone handset.

    The proprietary Money Saving Green Button on each phone provides “One-Touch Access” to American Telecom’s Pay N’ Talk service, for making calls, adding funds or setting up auto-payment on the prepaid system, or changing user information and is powered through the company’s exclusive relationship with IDT Telecom, adds the release.

  • Optibase brings turnkey IPTV solutions to Broadcast Asia 2006

    Optibase brings turnkey IPTV solutions to Broadcast Asia 2006

    MUMBAI: Optibase Ltd., a provider of advanced digital video solutions, has announced that it will demonstrate its IPTV and digital video solutions at Broadcast Asia 2006, which will be held in Singapore from 20 – 23 June.

    The company will showcase Optibase’s flexible model design providing customers with future-proof video solutions to meet the evolving requirements of Telcos and service providers.

    Visitors to the Optibase booth will see the following demonstrations:

    A turnkey solution for IPTV with Optibase MGW-1100 integrated carrier grade TV streaming platform, Orca Interactive’s middleware service delivery platform and BitBand video servers streaming MPEG-2 video. Optibase can deliver turnkey all-in-one solutions, in addition to its encoders or transcoders, by providing systems integration and bringing together components from IPTV ecosystem partners.

    Live encoding of MPEG-4 AVC High Definition (HD) resolution technology, providing efficient HD bandwidth utilization without compromising video quality and allowing the use of existing MPEG-2 content which requires no additional decoding or processing equipment. MPEG-4 AVC HD is currently the only format that enables Telcos to provide high definition channels to DSL subscribers.

    MPEG-2 HD encoding and decoding through Optibase MovieMaker 200 HD, designed for professional quality ingest of HD for broadcasting, video on demand (VOD), ad insertion, program initiation and post-production studios, as well as for integrators working on high-resolution military simulation or surveillance projects.

    Also, on display at the Optibase booth, a professional digital video ingest system co-developed with Venaca Inc. leading provider of media asset management solutions. When part of a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system, the integrated solution enables top quality video capture, Edit Decision List (EDL) creation, annotation archive retrieval, editing and asset management at the same time.

    “With MPEG-4, operators can reach more people with IPTV services, delivering additional streams to each home. Telcos want to deliver services like HDTV in order to stay competitive with satellite and cable, Optibase’s MPEG-4 technology and our proven interoperability with leading STBS, will enable Telcos to deploy advanced HDTV that will help them generate revenue and sustain subscribers,” said Optibase vice president marketing Yossi Aloni.

    Optibase will also discuss the recent announcement that it was selected by India’s state-owned major telecom, MTNL, to provide encoding solutions for the first IPTV deployment to go live in India.

  • Paul Aiello appointed Star Group president

    Paul Aiello appointed Star Group president

    MUMBAI: Star Group has announced the appointment of Paul Aiello as its president. Aiello will report to Star Group CEO Michelle Guthrie.

    In this newly created role, Aiello will be responsible for developing strategic and business directions for the company while overseeing corporate functions including business development, strategy and implementation, Star ventures, government affairs and corporate communications, according to an official release.

    Commenting on Aiello’s appointment, Guthrie said, “As Star continues to expand its operations and look towards diversified growth opportunities in Asia, the need for an experienced and gifted executive with Paul’s background became apparent. Together with Steve Askew who oversees our operations across the region, we now have in place a highly formidable team to lead the company into its next phase of robust development.”

    Aiello, 41, joins Star from Morgan Stanley where he worked for more than nine years. He joined the company as VP in 1997 and subsequently advanced his career to executive director, mergers and acquisitions of Asia Pacific; COO of Asia Pacific investment banking and finally, MD and head of telecom, media and technology group, Asia Pacific in 2000.

    He holds a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Cambridge and a B.A. in Economics and International Relations from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.