Triple Play Pilot Plan Approved

The Triple Play pilot plan has been approved. If all goes smoothly, Beijing residents are expected to access IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) by the end of this year.

An insider told reporters that the Triple Play plans for pilot cities, including Beijing, have been cleared. However, "the approval comments are rather vague." The source explained that management did not give explicit instructions but required the plans to be "implemented after improvement." "There are still many unresolved issues in the pilot plans submitted by the 12 cities (regions)." Of course, the most fundamental disagreement remains "departmental interests."

In July last year, the State Council announced the first batch of 12 cities (regions) for Triple Play pilot programs. The pilot cities (regions) subsequently submitted their pilot plans, followed by a long period of silence interspersed with various skeptical voices, such as the "abortion theory." In April this year, telecom expert Wei Leping remarked, "I haven't been called to meetings for a long time; Triple Play may have already been aborted." The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology later responded that it was still actively promoting the initiative, but issues such as "inconsistent understanding and awareness" were undeniable facts.

Relevant experts told reporters that in the Beijing area, there are no longer technical obstacles to Triple Play. As early as the beginning of this year, the broadcast control platform had been completed. What remains is how to coordinate the roles of radio and television and telecommunications. It is understood that according to the currently designed plan, Beijing is expected to launch IPTV as early as October, "if there are no special circumstances," the source emphasized. Last year, Beijing built a Triple Play network platform in Shijingshan District, with the participation of four relevant operators (China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, and Gehua). It is understood that the Beijing Triple Play working group will soon hold a meeting to arrange the next phase of deployment.

Notably, in mid-this month, Gehua Cable signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Mobile Beijing, under which the two parties will engage in mutual product agency, resource complementarity, and resource sharing.

In some regions, progress has been faster. For example, Tianjin has achieved the first substantial breakthrough. Last week, Tianjin Unicom and Tianjin Radio and Television launched IPTV in collaboration and brought it into communities.

As a typical Triple Play service, IPTV has been called for by the industry for years, but progress has been slow. In the view of senior telecom analyst Fu Liang, if the existing regulatory system remains unchanged, Triple Play will hardly achieve substantial breakthroughs before the end of its first phase. Currently, radio and television are busy with their own integration, while telecom operators are busy with 3G.