Powered from end-to-end by the Siemens SURPASS Home Entertainment solution, Belgacom is now delivering commercially available Internet protocol television (IPTV) to its customers as part of its asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) offering, announced the Siemens Communications Group.

Siemens has provided Belgacom - the leading telecommunications company in Belgium - with IPTV gear and software, including set-top boxes that convert digital signals for television viewing. Siemens is working with service providers throughout the world to make real-time home entertainment a reality in the fast-growing IPTV market.

Multimedia Research Group, Inc., projects that IPTV will grow globally from 1.9 million subscribers in 2004 to 25.3 million subscribers in 2008. MRG's report also forecasts that IPTV subscriber revenue will grow from $635 million in 2005 to $7.2 billion in 2008.

Siemens' activity in the IPTV market has been increasingly significant. Earlier this month, Siemens also announced that Dutch operator KPN has chosen Siemens to deploy its portfolio of SURPASS Home Entertainment solutions. KPN plans to introduce IPTV services over its digital subscriber line (DSL) network this year.

In April, Siemens announced the acquisition of Myrio - a leading IPTV middleware software company - to further bolster Siemens' commitment to home entertainment. With Myrio solutions as part of the SURPASS Home Entertainment portfolio, Siemens will continue to enhance interactive television features for viewers as well as to provide network operators with state-of-the-art management systems for pricing, packaging and developing applications.

Since November, Belgacom has been successfully offering IPTV to roughly 1,000 of its subscribers on a trial basis. The new BelgacomTV service includes broadcasts of major television stations, pay-per-view offerings and a video-on-demand service that lets subscribers pick and rent from a menu of DVD-quality films and programs that can be watched at a time that is best for the viewer and also enables the viewer to pause, fast-forward and rewind. Later in the year, Belgacom will offer Internet browsing, video recording and other interactive services. Future plans include direct interaction with a show or program via remote control.

Home entertainment is one of the critical components of the Siemens LifeWorks@Com ^TM vision to help people interact, work and be entertained - without technology boundaries - in an always-on world. The company's award-winning LifeWorks@Com vision provides the building blocks for the ongoing development of secure, reliable and high-quality converged communication solutions that drive greater efficiencies and improve user satisfaction.