GO to launch IPTV commercial trial
GO plc said today that it is set to start commercial trials of IPTV, which will see TV services being offered over both ADSL and fibre technologies.
The development is part of the company's six-year €100 million investment in next generation networks such as fibre-to-the-home, mobile network upgrades and investments in its TV infrastructure, including IPTV.
The announcement was made by GO’s Chief Executive Officer David Kay in the presence of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.
Mr Kay said GO had reached an agreement with an international provider for the launch of carrier-grade IPTV services in Malta. He explained that this alternative solution would provide GO’s customers a next generation TV experience which included 3D and High Definition capability, on demand television as well as interactive games and services.
Dr Gonzi was visiting the recently-renovated GO head office to mark the 10th anniversary since GO launched its mobile telephony service.
Dr Gonzi and Infrastructure and Communications Minister Austin Gatt were given a tour of GO’s offices, including the new GO business centre and the state-of-the-art Network Operations Centre for mobile and fixed communication services. The head offices house all of GO’s core and support functions.
Dr Gonzi thanked GO for its commitment to investment in the country.
‘‘Telecommunication is an important economic enabler and investments in such infrastructure are pivotal for Malta to sustain its growth and development. The investment that GO has undertaken over the past years and the investment made in the coming years, further confirms that liberalisation and privatisation processes have been important catalysts for investment and innovation. As a result, we have seen subscription indices and penetration rates rise as well as the growth of important economic sectors such as the financial services and the ICT industry which depend on the availability of modern and reliable telecommunications infrastructure. These investments over the years and in the coming years will continue to increase Malta’s investment attractiveness and sustain Malta’s economic growth.’’
Mr Kay said GO was at the forefront of technology and was investing both at an access level to make fibre technology available across the country, as well as on the applications level, so as to ensure customers benefited from the latest services and products.
He also pointed out that last month GO announced that it was the first communications provider in Malta to offer 100 Mbps fibre connectivity, as part of its commercial trials at Portomaso and Forth Mansions in Ta’ Xbiex. Similar speeds will be offered in more areas of Malta and Gozo once fibre is made more widely available, subject to upcoming government policy and regulatory decisions.
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Charles Micallef
Dec 9th 2010, 19:08
@ A. Zahra,
You must work for Go with all the knowledge expressed in your comment and in relation to what goes on in the Satellite TV World, but as far the long suffering customer who is always on receiving end, we are not aware of what goes on, only that I am paying for two decent channels and they have been replaced with two very inferior channels, with the food channel being one of 7 shown on GO that constantly shows repeats of food preparation channels and as for the Animal Channel most of it's contents is shown on National Geography, so you see Mr Zahra, some of us know the TV programme more than you and Go give us the clients credit for!
The fact is, that are other comedy channel available that can replace comedy channel, obviously at a cost. The cost of showing these two new and inferior channels is obviously much cheaper to show and is the price of my contracted service with Go going to be any cheaper? No of course not...and who is going to benefit from this change....certainly not us, the customer!
Charles Micallef
Dec 9th 2010, 15:27
.
..........................and the land in Qawra..............is it part and parcel of this investment?
Peter Vella
Dec 9th 2010, 15:04
Its very interesting to see that by this decision, GO is showing that it invested in a distribution technology (DTT) which is limited in terms of the number of TV channels and services that can be distributed. The wiser decision would have been to invest in IPTV in the first place...which after all had already been showcased at an IT fair several years back and then abandoned. Now that IPTV has been chosen as the technology to be used...there will unfortunately always be the problem with limitation of content available for the local market. After all Melita already has the advantage of not having bandwith limitations, nonetheless its programme line up is not very impressive. Unfortunately I find GO's free publicity thanks to the prime minister visiting their offices on a regular basis quite a farce. (1) Why boast that GO already can provide internet at 100 Megabit/s when this is not available to its clients? (2) Why show off HD on the eve that Melita were going to launch their HD service ... when several months later...no HD is available from GO and I was informed at one of their outlets that HD will not be available before 2013?
Peter Vella
Dec 9th 2010, 17:07
I wonder if "Go's IPTV commercial trial" is going to be limited to Portomaso and Forth Mansions in Ta’ Xbiex just like "GO 100 Mbps fibre connectivity"? Ha ha !!
Go were in a position to offer such high speed connection to specific buildings for years provided they passed an optic fibre ... so whats the news ?? Come on GO, show us the pricelist on your website for these ghost services you are mentioning ... and make them really available.
A couple of months ago I enquired about the 20Mbps internet connection available through ADSL ... I was told that had I subscribed I would never get anything close to 20 Mbps since my line does not support this speed. I wonder if any subscriber with Go actually gets the speeds he/she pays for?
Charles Micallef
Dec 9th 2010, 14:35
Quote " The company's six-year €100 million investment in next generation networks" unquote ......and then they could not reach agreement with the Comedy and Living Channels and give their TV Channels some substance and instead they replaced them with a Food Channel when they have seven of their existing channels showing food preparations programme and the Animal Channel which has always been shown on Melita's..
Thank you Go!
A. Zahra
Dec 9th 2010, 16:13
You must understand that transnational businesses divide the world into a number of separate regions. This is true even of TV, the world being serviced by just eight giants with Go beng a subsidiary of a subsidiary of yet an other subsidiary. Should a particular programme be sold by its producers to Owner A for transmission in region F that same program would be sold to Owner B for transmission in region G. With the sale of subsidiaries, the sold subsidiary may find itself in region which has not aquired program rights for certain already transmitted programes. Hence the new owner of the subsidiary may have to stop transmitting certain programmes. that is the way the world and transnational business work. it is about time that we all learnt this and stopped complaining about it,
G A Bonello
Dec 9th 2010, 14:21
Because IPTV uses standard networking protocols, it promises lower costs for operators and lower prices for users. Using set-top-boxes with broadband Internet connections, video can be streamed to households more efficiently than current coaxial cable.
Hmmmm, will be interesting to see if GO redcue their prices.
Mario Busuttil
Dec 9th 2010, 14:19
Through this year was reported that all local TV Programs are going to be free transmitted to local area as digital terrestial is to be in force.Are both Melita and GO Providers going to be in schedule with these free local TV programs ..such as TVM, NET TV ,SUPER ONE TV,SMASH TV etc.?
Peter Vella
Dec 9th 2010, 16:06
The obligation whereby local TV channels have to be available for free is only on the national broadcasters themselves not on distribution networks like Go or Melita.
So TVM, NET TV ,SUPER ONE TV,SMASH TV etc have to be available for free only on the aerial DTT.
G A Bonello
Dec 9th 2010, 16:42
You do not need Go/ Melita to watch them. All you need is is a TV with an in-built digital tuner/receiver, or a set-top digital receiver which can be bought for a non-exorbitant amount.