Development and Future Trends of IPTV Services in China

Commercial IPTV service began in China in 2005. IPTV has been a major source of conflict between telecom operators and broadcasters; subscriber growth has consequently been slow. Nevertheless, the rollout of IPTV service by China Telecom and China Netcom in Shanghai and Harbin respectively has been reasonably successful, and these operators have begun to expand their IPTV services to other cities. It was anticipated that the number of IPTV subscribers in China will break the one million mark in 2007. This report will examine the current state of IPTV service provision in China, and will analyze the rollout of IPTV service by China Telecom and China Netcom in Harbin and Shanghai, focusing on the service models that have been adopted and the operators' choice of equipment suppliers.