Advanced Television

Cloudy IPTV forecast for Monaco Telecom

August 2, 2011

By Colin Mann

Monaco Telecom is preparing to launch a new service enabling customers to view its IPTV video on demand service on other wireless-enabled devices such as tablet computers.

Monaco Telecom will be the first telecoms operator to provide the nCloud, a multimedia server created by specialist IPTV set-top box provider Netgem. Monaco Telecom launched an IPTV video over broadband service in 2010.

The nCloud software will work with Monaco Telecom’s IPTV set-top box, effectively turning it into a multimedia server that can share content with connected devices. Customers will be able to store and view both personal files (such as photos and videos) and multimedia content downloaded from the Internet (such as films) securely on any wireless-enabled devices within the household – including televisions, laptop, desktop and tablet computers and smartphones. There will be no need for householders to use the Internet to transfer content between devices, increasing security.

The first application for the nCloud will turn the iPad into a television. Rather than having to download an application per channel, Monaco Telecom customers will be able to flip easily between channels as their iPad becomes another television in the home. The nCloud is integrated with social media, so it will also be possible to choose a programme currently being watched by friends, or to comment on live TV.

Deployment of the nCloud software can be done remotely, so there will be no need for the company’s customers to change equipment.

According to Martin Péronnet, Chief Executive Officer of Monaco Telecom, the issue is no longer connecting a TV to Internet content, but how to create a connected home where all wireless devices are linked. “This is an opportunity for pay-TV operators to provide that link,” he declared.

Monaco Telecom will trial the nCloud from October 2011 and expects to commercially launch the service in the first quarter of the 2012/13 financial year.

Categories: Articles, CA/DRM, Content, OTT, Telco, VOD