Triple play is a term used when three services, high-speed Internet,
television and telephone, are provisioned over a single broadband connection.
Until now, these services were provided through separate dedicated lines. But
with the growing popularity of digital media and faster network connections, the
convergence of these services is inevitable. Delivering the services via a
converged IP network is a landmark for a triple play provider. By using IP,
services beyond basic voice, video and data, such as eLearning, telemedicine and
gaming, can be created.
Triple play's most obvious benefit is the single-connection simplicity. The
other benefits include lower infrastructure costs, scalable bandwidth,
generation of new revenue streams and increase in profit because all the
services are offered over a single connection. In highly competitive local and
international markets, triple play services will enable retention of customers,
which is the need of the hour for service providers.
In Full Swing |
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India: yet to arrive
The world over, service providers are viewing triple play services not only
as a means to increase top-line revenue, but also as a means of developing an
edge over the competitors. The year 2005 saw a significant growth in IP-based
triple play deployments.
According to a new study by
Infonetics Research, service providers in North America, Europe, and Asia
Pacific report that, in 2005, nearly 40% of their capital expenditures was on
triple play network equipment. They plan to increase their capex spending in the
next 12 months on IPTV equipment, broadband CPE, broadband aggregation
equipment, and voice over broadband equipment. At the same time, they also
expect revenue growth in all areas of triple play services.
According to the study, the average percentage of the total company revenue
from triple play services is expected to range from 43% to 48% between 2005 and
2007. Service providers are sending a clear message that the combination of
voice, data, and video services is a long-term differentiator for them. Although
VoIP has been the most popular application for triple play, video is the more
challenging part, while IPTV is where all the action is.
In India, triple play holds a lot of potential in the field of distance
education, video conferencing, telemedicine for rural areas, video on demand,
etc. Enterprises will benefit as they will be able to access business
applications centrally, thereby cutting costs and increasing productivity.
Triple play will enable growth of new areas such as online gaming and other
applications.
The broadband revolution has begun in the country. But triple play services
are yet to be introduced. There is a shift from single to triple play and it
will benefit the service providers as more and more customers opt for broadband.
There are some technical challenges too, such as, the rollout of triple play
services. High speed Internet, voice and video have different characteristics
and put different burdens on the network which provides the access to these
services. Hence, to ensure QoS on a single network can be a challenging task.
The Next Generation: Quadruple Play
The next generation of communications technology is quadruple play, where
wireless communications is introduced as another medium to deliver video,
Internet and voice content. Advances in both CDMA and GSM standards, and EDGE
technologies have enabled service providers to venture into quadruple play and
gain competitive edge. The ability to transfer information over a wireless link
at great combinations of speeds, distances and non line-of-sight conditions will
rapidly improve in quadruple play. The
future holds the possibility of integration of RFID into quadruple play.
Sonia Sharma
sonias@cybermedia.co.in