(21 June 2007 4:00 pm)

SINGAPORE: Hong Kong-based PCCW is now offering a full range of quadruple play services and is one of the few firms that has had success in the area of IPTV, said the company's international projects head of business development Ted Hsiung at the IPTV Forum at BroadcastAsia in Singapore.

For broadband, PCCW offers 8-25 mbps, up from 6 mbps in 2003. In television its IPTV platform, Now TV, has 800,000 subscribers and has moved from offering basic interactivity to advanced services in this area. Starting with around two dozen channels, it now offers 130. It will also move to HDTV later this year. In mobile, it has moved from 2G to 3G over the years and most recently to mobile TV.

In terms of the philosophy behind Now TV, Hsiung said that the firm approached it from a telecom perspective but was always serious about the pay TV business.

“We did what a telecom firm does best. We built bandwith, secured content, delivery, customer care and billing. Going forward, we realise that interactive applications will grow in importance,” he added.

In terms of advanced interactive services, he pointed to cinema ticketing where a consumer can see the theatre seating and book his ticket. He can also view trailers.

PCCW is offering eight games for free to high end Arpu (average revenue per user) customers. This is one way to raise Arpu, noted Hsiung. It is also building on the business side of things like transactional capabilities.

He also had words of advice on marketing IPTV services. “Firstly recognize that content providers have fantastic brands. Offer a flexible price structure. Our entry point through a la carte is low. We also did marketing in terms of roadshows, TV, radio, print. We have launched mini packs to drive Arpu. We have also started a business news channel. We have recently added 25 more channels some of which are exclusive to enhance our competitiveness. Most importantly the service should be easy to use,” said Hsiung.

Moreover, PCCW is moving to a stage where it is offering content on multiple platforms. For instance for EPL you can have games on now TV as well as on PCCW Mobile. On the mobile, one can view video clips.

The IPTV journey for PCCW started with a large broadband customer base and a low cost STB decoder. Another success factor for PCCW has been its strategy of using a call center to increase the subscription base via telecom promotions. PCCW also has managed a zero piracy rate. It has used Qualitvision which is an open platform enabled to pre integrate with multi vendor solutions.

"Innovative services have driven Now’s broadband business. It has a large music library with 20 labels," said Hsiung.