After DTH, Bharti Airtel forays into IPTV

Bharti Airtel on Monday launched its Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service, becoming the first private player to offer the service in the country.

"We will now offer triple play service -- telephony, broadband and television over a single line to customers in the NCR and will be followed by eight leading metros," Bharti Airtel president (Telemedia Services) Atul Bindal said.

IPTV refers to delivery of television content via a broadband connection. Apart from Airtel, state-owned MTNL and BSNL are also offering these services.

"Airtel has already tested IPTV services through its soft launch in some of the cities and we will soon extend these services in a phased manner to the top eight metros over the course of the year," he said.

"We have close to two million customers and would look at catering to these customers as well as new users, who are looking for three services together from a single operator," Bindal said. He, however, declined to comment on the targeted number of subscribers.

The announcement follows the recent launch of Airtel's direct-to-home (DTH) services in the country.

Airtel will provide these services under two packs -- Magic@ Home Pack at Rs 999 per month, which would offer 135 channels including 256 kbps broadband speed with unlimited download and a landline connection, and the Combo Pack, priced at Rs 599 per month, will provide 117 channels including 256 kbps broadband speed with download limit of 2.5 GB.

The service will also offer features such as real-time interactivity, where customers can order pizzas and book movie tickets on their TV, record programmes for seven days, rewind, forward, and Movie on Demand (MOD).