SLT IPTV Launched!!!

Mostly awaited IPTV service from Sri Lanka Telecom officially launched yesterday. Internet Protocol Tele Vision (IPTV) is a new revolution in the television history where service providers can utilize existing copper cable network to deliver high quality videos and sound using Internet Protocol. Internet Protocol is a set of rules defined for exchanging data across a network infrastructure. Internet is one good example of a network which use IP.  

According to the company announcements setup cost will be Rs 9950+VAT. Apart from the setup cost, subscribers will be charged a monthly rental of Rs 1000 + VAT for 14 international channels and 5 local chanels. As an introductory offer SLT Visioncom is providing 10 channels of preference free of charge. Subscribers will be required to pay additional fees for time shift TV and video on demand services Rs 600 and Rs 100 respectively. 

SLT IPTV Chanel line up

Base Channels: Rupavahini, Channel Eye, ITN, Derana, Max TV,CNN,BBC World, NDTV News, Al - Jazeera,Ujala,B4U Movies, Euro Sports, Euro Sports News, Nickelodeon, BBC Entertainment, NDTV GoodTimes, Luxe TV,Vh1,MTV

On subcription: HBO, HBO Signature, HBO Hits, HBO Family, Taffy Kids,B4U Music, C Music, STC, Trace, Fashion TV, Bollywood Channel, Travel Channel, Wedding TV, Wine TV

End of An Era of Satellite TV - Get Ready For IPTV

Sri Lanka Telecom the Sri Lanka's biggest telecommunication services provider is about to provide IPTV services commercially. Several months back from this post we showed that SLT has started IPTV trials which provides plenty of latest services to subscribers.
SLT has organized an exebition under the theme "Tomorrow You" which will showcase their latest services in the field of IPTV and visitors will also get a chance to experience these services as well.
You are advised to read this post to learn more about IPTV.

SLT Gears Up To Roll Out an IPTV Service In Sri Lanka- Will It Be Another Day Dream Like SLT WiMax?

SLT Visioncom, a fully owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom will invest hundred million rupees to start an Internet Protocol Tele Vision (IPTV) service in Sri Lanka. IPTV is a method of delivering video content through Internet protocol (IP) rather broadband Internet. IPTV has several advantages over traditional or satellite TV services which are interactive and personalized viewing experience, IPTV based converged services and also video on demand (VOD).
IPTV is said interactive and personalized because it gives some unbelievable facilities that you never expected.Some examples are ability to search for your favourite TV program when you need, search for a particular movie by it's director,watch Sana's career records while you watch a cricket match or even you can change the angle of camera during that match. However some of these facilities are possible with some modern satellite services also.
Another useful feature is Video On Demand (VOD) which allows you to select a missed TV program or a film and watch it at your free time. But most probably it will be much expensive. IPTV based converged services are the other incentives that you will get through this service. On-Screen Caller ID is an example for these converged services. Actually they are value added services bundled with IPTV service.
Up to now I mentioned about the things out there. But surly this will not be the reality in Sri Lanka. Because broadband Internet is the critical factor for all above mentioned "dreams". At present SLT's 1.5 Gbps bandwidth is shared among it's 54000 broadband customers and 80 000 dialup users (According to a recent newspaper advertisement, SLT' bandwidth is 1.5 Gbps where a US based files hosting company like Rapidshare has more than 120Gbps bandwidth). In order to roll out an IPTV service, SLT will be required to upgrade their ADSL system to ADLS 2+ .ADSL has several standards and currently SLT uses ITU G.992.1 (A standard define by International Telecommunication Union) standard which supports only max downstream speed of 12Mbps. An ADSL 2+ system is capable of providing theoretically 24Mbps of downstream service (ITU G.992.1 standard).
SLT office express service is currently offered at 6750 rupees which supports max speed of 2Mbps and if we calculate the cost using these values for an 12Mbps ADSL 2+ service which is suitable for IPTV services, it will cost around 40 000 rupees per month. Which means we can expect a price reduction of normal ADSL services after implementing SLT's IPTV service. SLT is sturgeling to launch a WiMax service also since 2006 and more information on this will be updated within few days.

Readers are highly encouraged to comment on any inconsistencies of the "numbers" stated in this article such as total bandwidth of SLT because all those values are based on newspapers and SLT press releases.