Atlas, BSNL to Beam TV Over Phone Lines

Luxembourg-based Atlas Interactive has tied up with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to use IP technology to deliver entertainment and information services over existing copper networks in India. The services would be delivered under the brand name Data One of
BSNL. 

In a 15-year, revenue-sharing deal, which is extendable to another five-year term, both companies would work together to deploy TV over IP, time-shifted TV, interactive TV, video-on-demand, videoconferencing, broadband, and a range of commercial and information support services. While these services would be developed in collaboration with the private and public sectors. Atlas and BSNL have also decided to split revenue in a ratio of 79:21, respectively.

According to Atlas Interactive business development CTO and VP Sanjiv Kapoor, the project will require $200 million of funding by 2007 and is expected to break even by 2006. Selected vendors of this technology have committed significant financial support in terms of vendor financing. 

The project, known as netTV within Atlas, uses set top boxes linked to televisions and phone lines to deliver high quality television services in addition to music, broadband access, SMS, email, web and Intranet access and data-all at broadband speeds of up to three Mbps. 

Due to be launched in the coming six months, the services will be broadcast in the suburbs of Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida. Any BSNL customer in the Atlas service area with a television set and a telephone connection will be able to access the broadcast services, as well as basic Internet functions such as web browsing and email, through a set-top-box provided by Atlas. 

The company will act as a franchisee for BSNL. It will use BSNL exchanges, connect all secondary switching area (SSA) and deploy entire network connected to BSNL switches. BSNL will give access to its copper and landline subscribers, subsidized bandwidth and a place to keep all its equipment and infrastructure.

Currently, the first phase to be implemented by October 2004 will see the roll out of the services in the NCR region. The company is planning to expand its network to 16 cities in the first phase and 38 cities by the end of the third phase in about three years time.

CyberMedia News