Telematics ITB - FTTH & IPTV Trial

Last month, just a couple of days before holiday season started, I attended a presentation / technology sharing session. Arranged by our sister company (MNC Group), and attended by all the representative from all relevant business units in the group - TV, SatTV, ISP, Mobile VAS.

(I am not under any NDA, so I can share some insights and information)

A couple of interesting points from the presentation are:

• ITB, through the Telematics Research Group (PT TRG, though the website seems too odd for me... registered company in USA?) has developed few prototypes for IPTV, FTTH, and WiMAX 16d system.
• The prototypes are currently in field trial.
• Primary market research data for Jakarta & Bandung is available from them (at a cost, I assumed). Estimated size of addressable market is a bit more than 100k subs in Jakarta.
  
• From business point of view, FTTH & IPTV could be a tough business at the current price expectation :-)
• IPTV system using off-the-shelf hardware with own software could cost less than $1mil for 40 channels SDTV with basic features, excluding CA/DRM. STB is another cost component, approx. $50-$100 depending on the purchase quantity.
  
• GEPON FTTH infrastructure investment is approx $500,- per home-passed, about 50% for the CPE (is it a reasonable number?)
• Customer is expecting max $40,- per month for all three services: Internet and entertainment (and voice?)

TRG promises to bring a couple of added value into any business partnership: market research data, experience in design+operate, equipment and software for Triple Play system, and existing rights-of-way.