Reports from Interfax China show what a huge leap is going on in IPTV momentum in China ‘ with China Telecom reported as passing 1.5 million homes installed, compared to just under 1 million 6 months ago.
China Telecom offers IPTV in conjunction with Shanghai Media Group and has almost 1 million customers and began the year with around 500,000 IPTV customers, picked up over a two year period at a comparative snail’s pace. But an RFP put out in the Summer for over 500,000 set tops marked the acceleration of IPTV in the most populous country in the world, which already boasts round 160 million cable TV homes, 75% of which are analog.
But the past nine months show a rapid rise in IPTV, at around 310,000 a quarter, taking it over 1.5 million just for China Telecom, and despite a much later start than the US, close to catching the US IPTV sales rate.
China Telecom told its outlying regions this Summer that they must buy IPTV systems from either ZTE, UTStarcom or Alcatel-Lucent and has outlined a longer list of set top and other providers in an attempt at standardization to accelerate IPTV rollout.
The service is provided in cooperation with Shanghai Media Group (SMG) and is broadening its range from initial major cities such as Shanghai, Jiangxu, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Shaanxi, and now China Telecom says it plans to reach 2 million by year end, perilously close to equaling the US installation rate, and likely to take it past both the US and global leader France before the middle of next year. All of which will mean that any IPTV company that does not have a Chinese office will be living off scraps.
Recently a local SARFT bureau fined China Telecom’s Yichang City branch in Hubei Province for illegal Internet protocol television (IPTV) operations, so it’s not all plain sailing and the Chinese operators have the same kinds of stresses and strains as those in the US. But on the other hand Jiangsu Province IPTV homes rose by 471% says Interfax for the first nine months of 2008.