TANDBERG Television today announced that it has worked closely with Siemens to provide the MPEG-4 AVC video compression that enabled the deployment of IPTV for Shanghai Telecom and the Shanghai Media Group. The Shanghai partnership was the first operation in China to secure an IPTV license and has been trialling its new digital television service since the summer of 2004. The full service was launched last month to an audience over 100% higher than the anticipated subscriber base in Shanghai's up-market Pudong district and demand has now already exceeded the end of year forecast. The service is delivering over 50 channels of content from providers such as CCTV and Shanghai Media Group.

"IPTV provides network operators with the opportunity to boost their ARPU and reduce their churn by enticing China's 360 million TV viewers and 25 million broadband users away from traditional cable and satellite Pay-TV and offering them a fully interactive, on-demand TV experience. China can see the vast potential in digital television and we are working closely with our partners and our customers to build a next generation digital TV infrastructure," says Geng Liang, General Manager of TANDBERG Television China.

TANDBERG Television's video systems are designed to enable IPTV offerings to compete effectively with existing cable and satellite TV services and to add new revenue streams, through on-demand services and interactivity. The solution for Shanghai Telecom consists of a TANDBERG Television standard definition MPEG-4 AVC head-end which provides significant bandwidth savings of up to 50% on MPEG-2, and enables superior picture and sound quality. The TANDBERG EN5930 encoder is ideal in IPTV deployments where the bandwidth limitations inherent with existing DSL platforms create a challenge for operators in providing a broadcast quality video service to their customers.

"TANDBERG Television is our video head-end partner of choice and we have collaborated on a number of IPTV deployments around the world. Our joint efforts have enabled operators to achieve rapid success in the TV market and TANDERG Television has consistently provided superior technology solutions and support. We are delighted to be working closely together on this groundbreaking project in Shanghai," says Zhang Jian, Senior Director of Siemens China Home Entertainment Solution.

TANDBERG Television has rolled out over 50 successful IPTV deployments and has invested in the technology and skills to become the world expert in the digital television market. Successful IPTV deployments have been carried out for customers including PCCW, Swisscom, Belgacom, KPN, Sistema, Fastweb and Lyse Energy. IPTV's 2-way interactive, on-demand nature makes it ideal for next generation entertainment offerings like video on-demand and interactive TV. Existing IPTV deployments have shown that churn rates of greater than 10% can be reduced to below 1% with the addition of video-based services.