Press Releases
Ruckus Wireless Selected by Telefónica O2 Czech Republic To Support New Nationwide IPTV Service
4.2 Million Households Targeted for Innovative IPTV Service
SUNNYVALE, CA, October 9, 2006 – Ruckus Wireless, credited with pioneering “smart Wi-Fi,” today announced that it has been selected by Telefónica O2 Czech Republic to support its newly launched IPTV service throughout the Czech Republic. Telefónica O2 Czech Republic will provide Ruckus MediaFlex wireless routers and adapters to subscribers who want to enjoy IPTV and Internet access without having to wire or rewire their homes.
“Europe continues to be the hot bed for commercial IPTV services,” said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless. “People don’t want to designs their homes around wall jacks and operators want to increase time to revenue for new broadband digital services. We are making both possible.”
Offered under the O2 brand, the Telefónica O2 Czech Republic’s streaming IPTV multicast service, as well as video-on-demand unicast service, are being offered to its existing 400,000 broadband subscribers and ultimately to the nation’s 4.2 million households.
Telefónica O2 Czech Republic is initially offering 30 channels of MPEG-4 IPTV packaged within its basic packages O2 TV Entertainment and O2 TV Cinema. Both packages are priced from ~ 13 EUR with additional buy-through options and value-added services like Video on Demand and catch-up TV,. Telefónica O2 Czech Republic says it expects strong demand for the service and has technicians to support turning on O2 TV for 400 new customers per day.
Currently television is delivered to consumers throughout the country using competitive coaxial cable, satellite or analog aerial services. Today, cable, the most popular choice, has penetrated only 25 percent (1 million consumers) of the market.
“There’s a huge, untapped market in this country for digital television service and IPTV represents a significant opportunity that allows us to capitalize,” said Michal Táborský, director of IPTV Services for Telefónica O2 Czech Republic. “A key factor in the delivery of our service was the in-home experience and our ability to quickly install and remotely manage in-home CPE. The Ruckus Wireless platform was the only purpose-built device that could actually do this.”
Telefónica O2 Czech Republic delivers IPTV over an ADSL2+ infrastructure with plans to begin providing fiber-to-the-home by year’s end. For €150, consumers have the option of purchasing a Ruckus MediaFlex router and adapter to support location-free IPTV. Ruckus Wireless MediaFlex systems will also be made available in Telefónica O2 Czech Republic retail outlets. Telefónica O2 Czech Republic operates some 130 stores throughout the country.
According to Telefónica O2 Czech Republic, the Ruckus Wireless system was chosen because it reduces installation times, provides high quality video transmission, supports simultaneous voice, video and data – all while allowing customers more freedom and less disruption throughout their homes.
“We currently send out a technician to install an Ethernet network in the home which can take even two or three hours to provide all the cabling,” said Táborský. “Our goal to deliver a self-installable wireless solution that can be used for present as well as future digital broadband services within the home without having to send a technician or disrupt the customer’s environment. The Ruckus MediaFlex system lets us do this without wires but with the same quality.”
Táborský added that in the future if consumers wish to add more TVs, the process would be as simple as purchasing a Ruckus MediaFlex system, taking it home and plugging it in. “Consumers will be able to literally add TVs when they want and where they want. No more having to make appointments for cable installers, waiting and wondering. We believe that this will be the new model around the world,” concluded Táborský.
What is IPTV?
IPTV is a new way of streaming real-time television programs, movies and other video content over a broadband IP network. Unlike conventional TV, IPTV requires connecting multimedia receivers (known as IP set-top boxes) to a computer network to receive video transmissions from the broadband modem or home gateway.
The proliferation of wireless and IP services has lowered traditional barriers to entry to wireline communications service provider markets. This results in ever-increasing line losses to new competitive service providers and margin erosion. To remain competitive, communications service providers face two strategic imperatives: 1) increase their services portfolio to include new broadband services, like IPTV and 2) decrease their operational expenditures to remain cost competitive.
Since most home computer networks do not extend to areas where the televisions are located, consumers have to put up with expensive and/or unsightly Ethernet cable installations. While technologies exist today to make Ethernet work over existing coaxial or electrical wiring in a home, their applicability is location dependant.
Furthermore, consumers everywhere have selected Wi-Fi as the home networking technology of choice. The Ruckus MediaFlex system is the first and only Wi-Fi system purposely designed to deliver picture-perfect video to all corners of a home by automatically steering Wi-Fi signals around interference and physical barriers.
Meanwhile, the Ruckus smart Wi-Fi system can also support simultaneous Internet browsing and voice over IP calls. Once installed, the system can connect multiple TVs and set-top boxes, as well as portable video receivers such as multimedia laptops and handheld multimedia players, without the hassles of new wiring or re-wiring.
About O2
O2 comprises mobile network operators in the UK and Ireland, along with integrated fixed/mobile businesses in Germany and the Czech Republic. It also owns 50% of the Tesco Mobile and Tchibo Mobilfunk joint venture businesses in the UK and Germany respectively as well as having 100% ownership of Be, a leading UK fixed broadband provider. In addition, the group includes O2 Airwave, which supplies secure digital communications to the emergency services and other public safety organisations. O2, a Telefónica company, is headquartered in Slough, UK, and has more than 35 million customers across Europe.
About Telefónica O2 Czech Republic
Telefónica O2 Czech Republic, a.s., is the first integrated operator in the Czech Republic formed on 1 July 2006 by the merger of the leading fixed line operator, CESKÝ TELECOM, a.s., and the strongest mobile operator, Eurotel Praha, spol. s r.o., into a single telecommunications organization. The organization is now operating nearly eight million lines, both fixed and mobile, making it one of the world's leading providers of fully converged services. Telefónica O2 Czech Republic is part of the O2 Group within Telefónica SA. It will uses the O2 brand for all consumer-facing activities.