Olympics apps to fuel China's IPTV growth, says ZTE

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Although limited content is cited as one of major factors for slower IPTV uptake in China, IPTV operators can make content more appealing by adding interactive features into the content, says an executive from ZTE.

Weijun Lee, VP of network architecture at ZTE USA, said the company has been working closely with China Telecom in developing new applications and services to enhance its IPTV offering.

For example, he said, China Telecom has launched a time-shift TV service, which allows subscribers to record and playback programs of any live channels that broadcasted three days earlier, without the need to pre-record. Such an offering, he said, has become popular and attracted end-users to switch to IPTV operators from cable TV operators.

Other features is a network-based program recording (NPR), which allows IPTV subscribers to record their favorite programs to operator's network instead of the set-to-box.

With the Beijing Olympics weeks away, China Telecom is also expecting to launch new features to its IPTV offerings in an attempt to accelerate adoption of IPTV services, he noted.

ZTE is helping China Telecom's subsidiary in Shanghai upgrade its IPTV network to H.264 and to 12M-bandwidth to satisfy the high demand for TV broadcasts during the Games.