Deutsche Telekom pins hopes on IPTV to lure customers

Deutsche Telekom hopes to tap into the growing market for television over the Web with new packages and lower prices in its drive to keep and win back customers. Europe's largest telecoms group by sales said it plans to gain 100,000-200,000 new customers by the end of this year for its Internet-based TV, said board member Timotheus Hoettges at a press conference ahead of the start of a trade fair in Berlin.

Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) will be available to 17.2 million households by the end of 2007, Hoettges said. The service currently reaches 15 million households.

The Bonn-based company is offering new products to attract customers to compensate for a steady loss of customers in its traditional fixed-line business.

IPTV is television programming provided via broadband cable and allows viewers to watch what they want when they want. It also has high-definition images and fast downloads.

For fixed-line operators like Deutsche Telekom IPTV is seen as a chance to compete against cable companies' all-in-one packages of video, voice and Internet services.

"IPTV is ready for the mass market," Chief Executive Rene Obermann said, adding the company planned to expand its high-speed VDSL network across Germany. It currently reaches 27 cities.

Its ADSL2+ technology is installed in 750 towns and cities.

ADSL is a form of DSL (digital subscriber line) that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines. ADSL2+ doubles the speed of transmission.

Subscriptions to IPTV services across Europe are expected to rise to 5.6 million this year from 2.9 million last year, with subscription revenue rising to more than 1 billion euros from 470 million euros, according to media research company Screen Digest.