GoBackTV is pleased to announce that systems integrator Goldfield Telecom has completed a rapid cable IPTV system installation at Citizens Telephone Cooperative, using GoBackTV’s patented GigaQAM IP.

Citizens Telephone Cooperative is a member-owned telecommunications company, founded in 1914, and headquartered in Floyd, VA. It offers telephone, broadband data, IPTV, cable IPTV, and analog cable services to consumers across several counties.

Systems integrator Goldfield Telecom of Goldfield, Iowa, specializes in providing reliable IPTV and IP networking solutions with world-class service and support. It recommended the GoBackTV cable IPTV solution -- the ability to offer IPTV over cable -- at a price that fit Citizens Coop’s budget. The solution replaced a traditional digital cable solution.

"We are always exploring cost effective ways to accommodate the explosive demand driven by high-bandwidth multimedia (Internet and Video) applications,” comments Darrell Seaba, President of Goldfield Telecom. “GoBackTV has allowed us to do just that. With the evolution of IPTV implementations, the GoBackTV offerings allow us to serve both our smaller and larger customers.”

The Citizens Coop implementation went smoothly. Goldfield and GoBackTV succeeded in making the QAM to IP conversion with both a cost effective and quality solution. The challenge was to keep cost-per-subscriber down while delivering an extensive IPTV content offering from Citizens' IP Headend to a small number of cable TV subscribers.

The installation of the GoBackTV cable IPTV solution, using Latens’ conditional access, began in October 2010 and went live in less than a week with only a few minor tweaks after the installation. Within three days the system was up and running and within the week, paying customers were already on the service.

Citizens now has over 150 subscribers on the IPTV service, with the goal to have all of their digital cable customers moved by March 2011. Today Citizens Coop has approximately 200 digital cable customers and 1000 analog cable customers. They also have 1500 IPTV customers over DSL. All subscribers have access to over 230 HD and SD channels plus 45 music only channels.

Citizens Coop plans to introduce widgets and games in the future, allowing customers to access Twitter, Facebook and OTT video such as YouTube from the TV set. As these services come online, they are now immediately available to its entire IPTV customer base.

“The Citizens Coop installation is an excellent example of a rapid deployment of an affordable cable IPTV system,” comments Rei Brockett, VP of Product Management and Marketing at GoBackTV. “Not only did it benefit from the leadership of a strong systems integrator, but it also shows the value of a well-integrated IPTV ecosystem.”