Chilean telecom operator Telefónica del Sur, also known as Telsur, has announced that the number of its IPTV (News - Alert) subscribers had surpassed 25,000, prompting the company to expand the service into different regions of the Latin American country.

 

Telsur, which started offering IPTV service after aligning with Ireland’s Latens, claims that it is “revolutionizing” the TV landscape in Latin America.

 

Launched in July 2007, Telsur’s WiTV IPTV service is now in the second phase of deployment.

 

Meanwhile, market researcher Signals Telecom Consulting has forecasted that the Latin American pay-TV market may experience a compound annual growth rate of almost 11 percent between 2009 and 2014, with IPTV becoming the region’s premium pay-TV platform.

Telsur, which is a 74.4 percent-owned subsidiary of Quiñenco, offers a combination IPTV, voice, Internet and tele-vigilance services. With more than 308,000 clients, it covers both residential and business clients in cities of Concepción, Temuco, Valdivia, Osorno, Puerto Montt and Coyhaique. 

Telsur offers 120 channels digital TV with electronic program guide (EPG), parental control and video on demand capabilities.

 

Belfast, Northern Ireland-based Latens’ Conditional Access is integrated with Telsur’s IPTV partners including Minerva’s iTV middleware, set top boxes from Amino, and in-home multimedia distribution from Ruckus. 

“As a software only solution, Latens CAS has allowed us to grow rapidly and scale without risk,” said Robert Massé of Telsur.

Unlike traditional legacy systems, Latens software CAS uses dynamically renewable technology which provides many advantages to operators over traditional smart-card based solutions. In addition, Latens software-only CAS allows Pay-TV operators to follow a business model that reflects regional requirements, without the additional capital expenditure imposed by smart-cards. 

“Securing the content of one of the leading IPTV providers in Latin America is a great endorsement of Latens software CAS,” said Alex Borland, director at Latens.