It's impossible for broadcast network operators to achieve triple play without the cooperation of telecom operators.
Beijing. March 24. INTERFAX-CHINA - A plan by China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) to build a nationwide next generation broadcast (NGB) network over the next 10 years will be difficult for the country's broadcast network operators to implement, an industry expert told Interfax on March 22.
Li Youping, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, listed three main difficulties being faced by broadcast network operators, who SARFT wants to build NGBs in order to allow the delivery of triple play packages capable of providing a mix of interactive broadband, telephony and television services.
"First, SARFT needs to invest a huge amount of capital to upgrade the 40,949 kilometers of cabling used in China's cable TV network to a two-away data transmission network capable of providing bandwidth of 41 megabits per second (Mbps) to users," Li said. "It will be very tough for SARFT to find a business model for triple play services that can cover the huge investment needed."
"Second, NGB has to offer unique services if it is to compete with telecom operators' networks. This is difficult for local broadcast network operators who enjoy monopolies in their respective regions and, as such, are far less geared up towards competition than the local branches of telecom operators, with whom they will be competing," he continued.
"Third, it's impossible for broadcast network operators to achieve triple play without the cooperation of telecom operators. However, broadcast network operators and telecom operators would rather integrate each other's businesses than cooperate in order to maximize profits," Li said.
In December 2008, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and SARFT signed an agreement to cooperate on building China's NGB network. SARFT said after the signing of the contract that the NGB network would use the Chinese-developed 3TNet technology to provide users with more than 41 Mbps bandwidth and realize triple play through the integration of TV, mobile multimedia broadcasting, Internet and telecom services.
On March 20, 2009, Sun Haitao, Deputy Director of SARFT, announced at the 17th China Content Broadcasting Network Exhibition (CCBN 2009) that SARFT and MoST plan to trial NGB networks in several major cities in three years and complete nationwide NGB network construction within the next 10 years.
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