UTSTARCOM AND AKSH TO POWER BSNL’S NEW iCONTROL IPTV SERVICE IN 20 CITIES ACROSS INDIA

UTStarcom, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI) today announced a contract with Aksh Optifibre, Ltd. (BOM: 532351) to deploy UTStarcom’s end-to-end RollingStream® Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) solution in 20 cities

2008-09-02, R & PM Edelman

Posted by karuna.menon@edelman.com 92 days ago (1)
Category: Telecom

UTStarcom, Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI) today announced a contract with Aksh Optifibre, Ltd. (BOM: 532351) to deploy UTStarcom’s end-to-end RollingStream® Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) solution in 20 cities on Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Ltd. (BSNL)’s ADSL 2+ network, a UTStarcom-built multiplay infrastructure that currently supports more than 75 percent of the active wirelines in India.

The IPTV offering which will be made available to more than 250,000 BSNL broadband subscribers in 20 cities throughout India with Aksh’s iControl service, gives both large cities and small towns the opportunity to experience interactive entertainment such as time-shifting, video-on-demand (VOD), interactive gaming, live television voting and distance learning programs.

“Demand for IPTV in India is increasing exponentially and UTStarcom is supplying Aksh with the solutions and infrastructure it needs to continue that momentum,” said Dr. Kailash S. Choudhari, chairman and managing director at Aksh Optifibre, Ltd. “UTStarcom’s understanding of the market and ability to produce cutting-edge technology allows Aksh to easily advance its IPTV strategy in India and improve the viewing experience for our customers, while also meeting internal operational goals.”

BSNL currently delivers the most comprehensive portfolio of communications services and maintains the greatest reach of all broadband and wireline operators in India; as a result, both Aksh and UTStarcom’s IPTV footprint within India will increase significantly in terms of scope of deployments and total commercially-deployed customer base upon completion of this BSNL IPTV network. Aksh, one of India’s leading optical fibre cable manufacturers and one of the first companies in India to set up its own fibre optic manufacturing units, is also expected to become the largest provider of IPTV support services in India upon completion of this IPTV system. Aksh is the leader in IPTV service with the largest subscriber base in India.

UTStarcom has long-standing relationships with both Aksh and BSNL for IPTV, broadband and NGN-related deployments. Last month, UTStarcom and Aksh announced their collaboration to deliver high-quality IPTV services to subscribers of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) in Mumbai, India, extending the reach of the operator’s service area following its initial commercial IPTV deployment in Delhi. In 2007, UTStarcom partnered with BSNL to supply 1.3 million lines of its Metro Ethernet Forum-certified NetRing™ 10000i STM-64 optical transport solution and iAN-8000 multiservice access node (MSAN) solution to build and launch new multiplay broadband Internet services.

“India is moving toward becoming a top IPTV market and companies such as Aksh and BSNL are making inroads to turn those aspirations into reality,” said Vijay Yadav, vice president and managing director, South Asia operations, UTStarcom. “RollingStream’s unique end-to-end architecture allows it to be both flexible and long-reaching in scope to support deployments in a small populated town or an entire country or region. Through BSNL’s network and UTStarcom technology, Aksh will build an iControl IPTV base that will change the way most of India utilizes television in their daily lives.”

UTStarcom's RollingStream® end-to-end IPTV system currently supports more than 956,000 live IPTV subscribers globally and maintains a current total system capacity of more than 2.5 million subscribers as a result of recent successful deployments in China with China Netcom and China Telecom, in India with Bharti Airtel, BSNL/Aksh, MTNL/Aksh and United Telecoms Limited, in Sri Lanka with SLT, in Japan with Softbank, in Latin America with Brasil Telecom and in Taiwan with Markwell.

About Aksh Optifibre, Ltd.
New Delhi based Aksh Optifibre, Ltd. is a leading optical fibre cable manufacturer in India. The company produces a variety of cables, including singlemode and multimode cables; duct cables; armored and aerial cables; indoor and outdoor cables; and ribbon fiber optic cables. Aksh was one of the first companies in India to set up its own fiber optic manufacturing units. Aksh exports 25 percent of the total turnover to 25 countries, including Japan. The company’s main product is a Fiber-to-the-Home solution. Aksh is the first company to provide IPTV Services in India with the largest subscriber base. To learn more about the iControl IPTV service, log on to www.icontrol.in.

About Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL)
BSNL, a Government of India owned corporation, is the incumbent and largest telecommunications services provider in India with a pan-India footprint but for Delhi and Mumbai. It has a network of over 60 million subscribers covering 5000 towns with over 35 million fixed line telephone connections. The corporation is an integrated telecommunications service provider with presence in the fixed line, cellular mobile, long distance and data segments with over 35 million fixed line, 24 million cellular mobile and 3.9 million internet subscribers including 0.9 million broadband customers. To know more about BSNL, please log on to www.bsnl.co.in.

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 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.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, regarding the deployment of UTStarcom products, including statements regarding the anticipated growth of IPTV services in India. These statements are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in our forward-looking statements include: increased competition; economic issues in the identified geographic markets; possible delays in system deployment; risks associated with customer acceptance; termination of new contracts, partnerships or alliances; changes in anticipated number of subscribers and traffic; and changes in government regulation and licensing requirements. Please also refer to UTStarcom’s periodic reports that are filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange commission, including our latest Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. UTStarcom assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update these forward-looking statements.