IP Telephony Conf - Cable Industry Eyes Packet Apps
October 16, 1998 TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, Newsbytes
via NewsEdge Corporation : The next time
you get a new channel on your cable TV
service, it might be a telephone.
Since AT&T's acquisition of
Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), the
spotlight has been brighter on the use of
cable-TV networks to provide phone
service. The cable television industry sees
telephony, using Internet Protocol (IP) or
other packet technology, as a market
opportunity that would take advantage of
its existing networks.
"Basically for us it's an incremental
business opportunity," said Barbara Adey,
vice-president of technology at
Vision.com, a research venture backed by
eight Canadian cable-TV operators.
Speaking at the IP Telephony and
Voice/Data Convergence conference,
Adey said cable networks are well placed
to provide not only residential telephone
service, but small office and home office
applications such as videoconferencing
and shared electronic whiteboards, as
well as extending corporate private
branch exchange (PBX) functions to the
homes of telecommuting employees.
Another speaker at the conference, Steve
Guiton of the Canadian Cable Television
Association (CCTA) said that while the
cable-TV industry in Canada is worth
about 2.8 billion Canadian dollars, the
telecommunications market amounted to
some 20 billion Canadian dollars in 1997.
The cable industry sees an "enormous
opportunity" in this larger market, said
Guiton, who is the CCTA's vice-president
of telecommunications and multimedia.
Before they can exploit the
telephony-over-cable market's
possibilities, Adey said, cable companies
need to increase capacity, provide
two-way service on their networks, and
improve quality.
There are about 7.8 million cable
subscribers in Canada now, she said, and
as of the beginning of October 4.3 million
of those connections have two-way
capability. Operators are adding upstream
channels as well as working on standards
needed to proceed with the new services.
CableLabs, a research consortium of North
American cable companies, is working on
three initiatives in this area. The Data
Over Cable Service Interface Specification
(DOCSIS) project will provide fundamental
standards. PacketCable will address how
IP services can be delivered over cable,
and the first feature specification is due
soon, said Adey. The OpenCable initiative
aims to develop specifications for digital
set-top boxes that could provide multiple
voice lines, always-on Internet access,
and other new features. The industry
hopes to begin delivering these late next
year or in 2000. In Canada,
Montreal-based Groupe Videotron has
already said it plans to offer the service.
Guiton raised the possibility of residential
cable subscribers being able to turn on
additional voice lines almost instantly
through a set-top box, using a menu
displayed on the TV screen.
"Over the next 10 years," he said, "cable
telephony will represent 20 percent of
cable industry revenue."
Reported By Newsbytes News Network,
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