Kreatel Communications announced the continued collaboration with Norwegian broadband provider Lyse Tele AS. Under the terms of the agreement, Kreatel remains the provider of IP set-top boxes for Lyse's solution and will deliver an additional 45,000 units over the coming two years.

The agreement covers deliveries of four different IP set-top box models: Kreatel IP-STB 1510, 1550, 1710 and 1750, as well as the Kreatel TV Software, the software platform that enables the integration of all models in the same solution. Lyse will now be able to include advanced video codecs and high definition television (HDTV) in their already comprehensive service package.

The number of subscribers to Lyse's IPTV solution currently increases with approximately 25,000 per year. That includes the subscribers of Lyse's many partners, also the small regional broadband providers, who deploy the full Lyse solution from headend to set-top box.

"Lyse's broadband solution is the most advanced one on the market and our IPTV offer has proven to be a large success," says Toril Nag, CEO of Lyse Tele. "Kreatel's solution is an important part of our package as it supports our strategy of a growing service offering and allows us to combine several set-top box models and features."

"Lyse is a very visionary company and has created an impressive solution that benefits from the advantages with broadband television," says Lars Bengtsson, CEO of Kreatel. "We are pleased to keep contributing to its success with our reliable IP-STB solution."

Since 2002, Kreatel has delivered approximately 35,000 IP-STB units to Lyse, divided among Kreatel IP-STB 500 and 1500 series models. With the coming deliveries of the Kreatel IP-STB 1700 series, Lyse will have three generations of set-top boxes in their solution, based on different chipsets, running the same software and services.