UTStarcom Teams with Bharti Airtel to Launch IPTV in India
ALAMEDA, Calif. and NEW DELHI, India, Sept 17, 2007 / / -- UTStarcom, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI), a global leader in IP-based, end-to-end networking solutions and services, today announced a contract to supply its industry-leading RollingStream(TM) end-to-end IPTV solution to Bharti Airtel, one of India's leading integrated telecommunications service providers with more than 46 million customers.
UTStarcom's RollingStream solution will enable Bharti Airtel to offer a completely new service to its customers consisting of live broadcast television, time-shifted TV and video-on-demand (VoD) bundled with the operator's existing broadband and voice services, which can all be consolidated into a single bill sent to customers at the end of each month. Airtel expects to offer this new service bundle to customers in Gurgaon and the National Capital Region (NCR) by the end of the year. The service will also be rolled out in a phased manner across eight additional regions in the country.
"We are happy to team with UTStarcom to offer IPTV and other new services to our customers in India," said Atul Bindal, president of Airtel Broadband and Telephone Services. "UTStarcom's RollingStream solution has proven technology to support our requirements in rolling out IPTV service in India. We are running our IPTV trials in Gurgaon and have received a favorable response from our customers participating in these trials."
Earlier this year, UTStarcom announced a three-year contract through its collaboration with Aksh Optifibre Ltd. to deploy its RollingStream solution with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) in India. In addition to its deployments in India, UTStarcom also has commercial IPTV deployments with China Telecom and China Netcom in China and Softbank in Japan. Demand for IPTV is expected to grow significantly in the Asia Pacific region. According to Frost and Sullivan, IPTV subscribers in this region are expected to surpass 27 million by 2013 with China and India being the high-growth markets.
"Today's announcement represents our second commercial deployment of RollingStream in India this year," said Vijay Yadav, managing director of South Asia for UTStarcom, Inc. "We believe our RollingStream solution can revolutionize the way television is viewed in India by making services more interactive and personalized to the end user."
About UTStarcom, Inc.
UTStarcom is a global leader in IP-based, end-to-end networking solutions and international service and support. The company sells its broadband, wireless, and handset solutions to operators in both emerging and established telecommunications markets around the world. UTStarcom enables its customers to rapidly deploy revenue-generating access services using their existing infrastructure, while providing a migration path to cost-efficient, end-to-end IP networks. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Alameda, California, the company has research and development operations in the United States, Canada, China, Korea and India. For more information about UTStarcom, visit the company's Web site at www.utstar.com.
SOURCE UTStarcom, Inc.
http://www.utstar.com
