China Eyes Internet Protocol TV

ina wants its IPTV – or at least that’s what some technology market analysts believe. A new study from ABI Research suggests that the delivery of television over IP (internet protocol) networks has the potential to create revolutionary growth in China’s broadband customer base, as TV viewers, as well as PC owners, find a reason to subscribe. Indeed, domestic Chinese telecom operators have been plagued with decreasing average revenue per unit and shrinking broadband subscriber growth. But before ubiquitous adoption of IPTV can occur, "a number of questions need to be resolved,” analyst Junmei He said in a statement. “First, IPTV licensing is currently tightly controlled. This hinders domestic telecom operators, who don't want to risk high capex on a business whose shape is still unclear." ADVERTISEMENT He also cites immaturity of the business models. "In the current business model the IPTV content provider is also the content aggregator, and even the service provider," she noted. "IPTV content providers are lacking the commercial experience needed to aggregate and package content flexibly and effectively." In addition to glitches in the supply chain, technical concerns such as a lack of unified standards, insufficient bandwidth, proprietary systems, mainstream compression technology issues and low quality of service are also causing static for IPTV development. Nevertheless, He has her antenna up. "We feel that these obstacles will be overcome relatively soon, and the IPTV market in China will take off in 2007," she concluded.