Broadband Internet on cable television: The trend of

Recently, Vietnam Cable TV brands, Hanoi Cable TV . have been known by consumers not only to enjoy special television programs but also to . surf the Net.

Trend two in one!

By the end of 2005, Vietnamese television viewers were acquainted with many cable TV brands. Northern customers know about Hanoi Cable TV HCTV, Vietnam Cable TV VCTV; In Ho Chi Minh City, Saigontourist Cable Television Company (SCTV) is known. The strength of cable TV is that there are many rich programs with attractive content up to several dozen channels.

The market for cable television services is becoming more and more fierce . The problem for service providers is that in addition to the content, the quality of service must be "taken care of" carefully "the way" What will attract customers using the most effective cable TV?

Along with ADSL, broadband Internet service on cable TV is a new option that service providers aim to.(photo: TN).

And with the trend of integrating more utilities for the service network, in 2005, both Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City cable TV companies implemented plans to combine with telecommunications service providers, To provide customers with an equally convenient service is broadband Internet on their cable network. According to them, this two-in-one utility add-on service will be a lever to stimulate people's use demand.

The level of competition is still modest

The launch of the first broadband Internet service on cable television is the Hanoi Cable TV deployment with the new generation telecommunications company partner; then MediaNet, SCTV's common child and EVN Telecom in Ho Chi Minh City. In the middle of December 2005, the service was also provided by EVN Telecom and Vietnam Cable TV Technical Center VCTV which was opened in Hanoi.

The advent of broadband Internet service on cable television network is making ADSL high-speed Internet service providers pay attention because there are more competitors. The common advantage of broadband Internet service on cable television is that it has a very high access speed, 5 to 10 times higher than the current high-speed ADSL Internet service. In addition, the service also promises that there will be no bottlenecks, congestion, broadband into . narrow when people use the service at the same time. For example, with broadband Internet service provided by EVN Telecom and VCTV, the ideal conditions for users to download at a maximum of 56 Mbps and upload also reach a maximum speed of 30 Mbps, The parameters that customers use ADSL service can only dream.

However, the telecommunications experts also said that despite the competition, the market of broadband Internet services on cable television has not been exciting yet. Although competing with other Internet services will of course happen, it will not be for the moment, and only to some extent. The most important reason is that Internet services must live "parasitic" on cable networks must rely heavily on the growth rate of subscribers using cable networks, so the number of subscribers using cable TV service is still modest.

Until now, Hanoi cable television network (HCTV) has reached 60,000 subscribers after more than three years of official service provision. And while taking the lead in integrating Internet services on cable TV networks, cable TV subscribers registering to use HCTV's broadband Internet are only about 100 subscribers. Although it also offers policies to attract users to increase subscriber growth, it does not seem to be very attractive, it is still a promotion, leasing modem .

HCTV also acknowledged that part of the slow subscriber development is due to upgrading the network to two ways to provide Internet services, which requires relatively large investment costs, so only developing the network in a narrow range, not yet respond meet the needs of customers in potential areas. Therefore, with the target set in the first 6 months of 2006 to develop 1,000 broadband Internet subscribers on HCTV network, it is still too modest compared to the 200,000 subscribers of three VNPT and FPT service providers. and Viettel combined until the end of 2005.

Thuy Nguyen