SaskTel will be one of the first providers in North America to commercially deploy High Definition (HD) television services as part of an IPTV offering using MPEG4. Alcatel's Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture, which as the key component of SaskTel's Next Generation Access Infrastructure (NGAI) program is enabling SaskTel to offer advanced broadband entertainment services.

SaskTel's HDTV offering represents the evolution of SaskTel's Max Entertainment Services which currently include high-speed Internet access, television, and Video on Demand (VOD) in a single bundle over SaskTel's high- speed IP network. SaskTel's Next Generation Access Infrastructure (NGAI) program, a capital investment initiative that is providing bandwidth of up to 40 Mbps, is the key enabler for advanced services such as HD TV and VoIP.

"Launching HD TV secures SaskTel's position as an IPTV pioneer," said Robert Watson, CEO, SaskTel. "With Alcatel's Triple Play solutions, we are confident that HD is one of many innovative entertainment services that we will continue delivering to our customers."

"The people of Saskatchewan will now have access to the most complete portfolio of entertainment services available," said Hubert de Pesquidoux, President of Alcatel's North American activities. "We are pleased to strengthen our relationship with SaskTel, and to be part of yet another first as they continue to pioneer entertainment services delivery in Canada, and drive the evolution of the IPTV industry."

The HD service rollout is enabled by Alcatel's IPTV software development and services integration capabilities. These capabilities complement Alcatel's industry leading Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture (TPSDA), which includes the Alcatel 7750 Service Router, 7450 Ethernet Service Switch, and 7330 ISAM fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) platforms. The Alcatel 5620 Service Aware Manager and 5526 Access Management System provide management for the TPSDA network.