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Carrier Services
Telefónica Signs Deal With Ruckus
Czech Republic Subsidiary to Offer IPTV Over WiFi
by Ken Wieland
The Czech Republic subsidiary of Telefónica has announced a
deal with Ruckus Wireless that will enable it to offer its IPTV
service – branded as O2 – over a WiFi connection between the
DSL jack and the STB.
By using Ruckus’ MediaFlex wireless routers, which can be
installed by customers themselves, operators should be able
to lower their IP installation costs. No cable is required to run
between the DSL connection and the STB and, being a self-
install, no engineer visits – if everything goes smoothly –
should be required.
“We estimate that operators, using our ‘smart WiFi’, can lower
their IPTV installation cost by 60 percent,” says Selina Lo,
president and CEO of Ruckus.
No information is disclosed about the number of MediaFlex
routers being shipped to Telefónica, nor is the value of the
deal revealed. However, Lo says that the revenue from this
contract, combined with another deal with a Tier 1 European
telco (which is to be announced this Wednesday by the
operator at the Broadband World Forum event) is
worth ‘millions’.
Lo, not surprisingly, claims that Ruckus’ kit can deliver the
quality of service that customers will want from their IPTV
service and that the MediaFlex router has a proven track
record. “Of the 200 or so independent service providers in the
US,” she says, “we serve about 50 and we haven’t had any
complaints. We can support multiple HDTV streams, which is a
growing requirement in the US due to multiple TV sets in the
home.”
Founded in 2004, Lo says that US-headquartered Ruckus has
shipped ‘tens of thousands’ of units to over 75 broadband
operators around the world – including PCCW in Hong Kong –
and there is growing acceptance among operators that WiFi is
a viable delivery mechanism for high quality video.
Proof of that, she says, comes with the further announcement
today that Ruckus has secured an additional US$16 million of
funding from Motorola Ventures and the T-Online Venture
Fund. Lo wouldn’t disclose how much equity she has given up
in the company, but the total VC funding now stands at
US$30 million.
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