Orange to review its IPTV plans while Q1 results disappoint

  • May 11, 2010

Orange UK is planning again to launch its own IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) service after two unsuccessful attempts over the last three years. After its competitor, BT has recently taken the control of its broadband network under an agreement, the ISP is now set to look for new business opportunities like IPTV (broadband TV) market in the UK, it was reported.

Customers require faster speeds to access IPTV service and Orange hopes that BT’s high-speed networks can help it to rollout the service this time.

On its own, Orange has been a poor performer among UK service providers since its launch. Although it has an extensive fixed broadband network that covers 65% of UK and connects more than 840,000 Orange subscribers by Q4 2009, its broadband base saw a continuous decline in the last two years as many of its dissatisifed customers have switched to other providers.

According to the recent Q1 2010 results, the France Telecom owned broadband supplier has further lost 24,000 customers to reach a total subscriber base of 816,000. The sharpest fall was seen in Q3 2009, when the provider lost more than 59,000 customers.

Global demand for IPTV services is also rising indicated by subscription numbers which grew by 47% in 2009. There were over 33 million who access TV service via broadband worldwide by the end of 2009, according to the recent Broadband Forum – Point Topic survey. The demand and uptake rate was seen higher in nations that provided faster average speeds, the study also showed.

Already, the competitors BT and Sky are offering their own broadband TV – BT Vision and Sky Player. While BT Vision is exclusively available for its customers, Sky Player offers both free and premium content to internet users.

Many customers do not take an IPTV service for two reasons – one, the existing service does not offer the required speeds (more than 4Mbps is ideal for watching high definition content), second, the premium contents via internet are quite expensive.

With fibre deployment promising faster speeds for users in UK in the coming years, the IPTV services can get a vital boost and move towards better market competition.

Orange is yet to announce the launch date of its broadband TV.