Business

Saturday September 26, 2009

Lower IPTV bandwidth from Wicked TV

By B.K. SIDHU


PETALING JAYA: Little-known Wicked TV Sdn Bhd said it has developed a home-grown IPTV (Internet protocol TV) technology that is capable of delivering multimedia content at only a fraction of the bandwidth other operators say they need.

The company is currently hosting on its platform Bernama TV’s content which has been viewed globally for the past one year.

Wicked TV created its own platform to host the content and now wants to market the solution beyond Malaysia’s shores.

Locally, it is conducting trials for Media Prima group, and in the region it is in talks with broadcasters and telcos in Indonesia and Bangladesh.

Next year the company will aggressively market itself in the region in a plan to tie up with telcos and broadcasters.

Jon Wee Abdullah says Wicked TV needs only 300 kpbs to run an IPTV offering.

“We need only 300 kpbs (kilobits per second) to run an IPTV offering and we are in the business of selling technology,’’ chief executive officer Jon Wee Abdullah said in an interview, adding: “We are not stopping at just hosting Bernama TV, we want to use the technology to offer education, training and many other offerings via web TV.”

“It is the first of its kind that uses 300kpbs and can run for 24 hours. So you really don’t need 4Mbps (megabits per second) or even 8Mbps to run an IPTV network.

“We have done it at 300kbps and this is ideal for both the urban and rural areas,” he said.

In comparison, Telekom Malaysia Bhd had earlier said it needed 8Mbps for an IPTV offering.

But it really depends on the technology used, content and other factors.

Wikipedia’s definition of IPTV is TV content that is received by viewers through technologies used for computer networks, instead of being delivered through traditional broadcast and cable formats.

IPTV sets the stage for the convergence of telecoms and entertainment industries for telcos to exploit their networks for delivery of multimedia solutions. The broadcasters also do not want to be left out and are finding ways to safeguard their turf by getting into the web TV business.

Globally, broadband grew by 12.9 million lines in the second quarter of 2009, while IPTV growth remained strong at 11%, reaching 26.9 million lines.

There are also many competitors that provide solutions for IPTV and these are big vendors compared with Wee’s Wicked TV.

But Wee is not perturbed as he believes there is a big enough market out there.

“We may be small but we are a web TV company that has the solutions and when hosting on our platform you don’t get interruptions or buffeting. Our quality does not deteriorate,” Wee said.

Wee, who studied and worked in the United States for over a decade, said he developed his web TV solution there.

“It has not been an easy journey to create and test it and finally have content running on the platform that we have created. It started as a hobby and is now my passion.

“We will continue to invest in research and development and continuously innovate and expand our offering,” he said.

For access to IPTV, “one does not need set-top boxes or decorders, but just a computer, plug in and install a programme and you are ready to go,” Wee said.

The total investment made by Wicked TV so far is RM2.5mil.

Wee, the major shareholder of Wicked TV, said the company had enough funding for the next three years.

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