MNC: Choice of IPTV/OTT

Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia and one of the founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It is also a member of the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. With a population of more than 238 million, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world.

MNC is a subsidiary of Southeast Asia’s largest media group, Global Mediacom. As the largest media company in Indonesia, MNC has three national free-to-air channels: RCTI, MNC TV, and Global TV. Together, these channels account for 36% of the FTA market in Indonesia. Because of its strong content-development capabilities, MNC can create content for its 12 channels.

MNC Sky Vision, the largest pay TV operator in Indonesia, offers pay TV services through direct-to-home (DTH) systems to about 1.72 million subscribers. MNC Sky Vision has a 70% share of the pay TV market in Indonesia. Indovision and Top TV are MNC Sky Vision’s two main brands. The former targets the high-end market and the latter targets the mid-range and low-end markets. Okevision is another of Global Mediacom’s pay TV brands that targets the mid-range market. In its transition from media group to triple-play company, Global Mediacom has established MNC to construct FTTH, IPTV, VoIP, and IP-NGN systems. MNC plans to deploy FTTH, IPTV, VOIP, backbone networks, and BOSS in 11 first-tier and second-tier cities in Indonesia within the next three to four years. IPTV/OTT construction is a key element in MNC’s platform planning.

MNC’s Challenges and Opportunities

The rapid development of broadband networks and the emergence of mobile internet have created unprecedented challenges but also valuable opportunities for MNC. In May 2011, MNC bid for CMTS+DVB, hoping to develop broadband services based on MNC’s competitive DVB services. After analyzing development trends in the pay TV market for MNC, ZTE determined that TV will become much more interactive. Subscribers will be able to select whatever want and flexibly control playback. Traditional DVB will be progressively replaced by IPTV/OTT. The ultimate goal of broadband development is fiber to the home (FTTH) and continual improvement of bandwidth. MNC decided that a new CMTS+DVB may not conform to development trends and decided to give up on it. Instead, they turned to FTTH+IPTV/OTT.

Field-Proven IPTV/OTT Solution

MNC was not quite familiar with IPTV/OTT and sophisticated solutions and the advice of professional technical teams. ZTE therefore established a special project team to discuss solutions with MNC, trial an IPTV/OTT service, and arrange for MNC to visit model IPTV/OTT sites.  

ZTE proposed an IPTV/OTT convergence solution in which IPTV and OTT services are oriented towards different user groups. IPTV provides high-quality TV to average and high-end users of MNC broadband. OTT is designed for those who do not use MNC broadband. OTT provides a variety of internet-based media services for average and low-end users of mobile phones and PCs. IPTV and OTT systems are converged into a platform for unified management. This reduces MNC’s capex and opex. After four months of in-depth discussion with ZTE, MNC became familiar with IPTV/OTT products and thought highly of ZTE’s end-to-end IPTV/OTT solution.

Live IPTV/OTT demonstrations enabled MNC to come into close contact with ZTE’s IPTV/OTT products and experience real services. MNC gained a deeper understanding of IPTV/OTT. Visits to model IPTV/OTT sites and meet-ups with other successful operators made MNC more comfortable in choosing IPTV/OTT. In the final POC test, ZTE outperformed other vendors. This also indicated that MNC had made an excellent choice to work with ZTE.

Joint Planning for Development

There are great opportunities in the Indonesian broadband market. In a country of more than 200 million, less than 5 million use fixed broadband, and a broadband penetration is lower than 10%. IPTV/OTT services are now booming in Indonesia. With the rapid development of fixed broadband and mobile internet, Indonesia has a huge potential demand for IPTV/OTT services. With field-proven end-to-end solutions, ZTE assists MNC in developing IPTV/OTT services and building a reliable IPTV/OTT platform. MNC’s advantages in terms of content, channel resources, and abundant VOD sources can inject new vitality into the IPTV/OTT platform. ZTE and MNC are working together for a promising future.