Magyar Telekom launches IPTV via cable

Deutsche Telekom-owned Hungarian service provider T-Home/Magyar Telekom has become the first operator to deliver an IPTV service via cable using EuroDOCSIS 3.0 technology.

Magyar Telekom, which already offered an IPTV service via ADSL, VDSL and optical networks, teamed up with Cisco Systems and Microsoft Hungary to deliver the interactive service over cable, will allow it to reach a total of 1.5 million homes over all network types.

The operator, which began testing the service in December, will roll out initially in Budapest and south-eastern Hungary, with the rest of the country to follow later. Features include pause and replay of live programmes, the VideoTheque video-on-demand service with 500 titles, an EPG, programmable video recording and child-lock features.

Cisco provided EuroDOCSIS equipment including Modular-CMTS and cable modems/residential gateways for the service, which is based on the Microsoft Mediaroom platform.