Internode says it will soon begin offering its full IPTV service for customers with fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections including those using the National Broadband Network.
IPTV service FetchTV looks set for Internode FTTH rollout (Credit: Internode)
The ISP currently provides FTTH services to customers lucky enough to be situated in one of the few trial locations that the Gillard Government’s high-speed NBN is available in, as well as a number of recently developed housing estates and finally Telstra’s trial fibre revamp in Point Cook, Victoria and complete revamp in South Brisbane, Queensland.
Unfortunately for those using the high-speed fibre connections however, Internode is yet to offer the full-scale Internet television (IPTV) service, FetchTV, to customers, instead opting to provide a watered-down entry level FetchTV “Lite” service instead to those not using an ADSL2+ connection.
The full service has a number of features that Lite doesn’t, including access to subscription-based services such as Fox Sports News, National Geographic Channel and Al Jazeera English, as well as a selection of on-demand movies and television shows.
However in a post on Australian forum site Whirlpool, Internode CEO Simon Hackett confirmed that the company will soon begin testing the full FetchTV service for FTTH customers with the hope of launching to everyone by the end of December.
“Current target is to have Fetchtv Full over FTTH available pretty much nationally toward the end of December 2011,” he wrote on the site.
“We’re about to turn on some (already organised, don’t ask) field verification trials in the next couple of weeks, ahead of pressing the button nationally.”
In response to one forum user’s comments, Hackett also confirmed that the company will offer the Full FetchTV service to customers in Tasmania on the NBN alongside all other trial locations currently live on mainland Australia.
“Our upcoming FTTH support for fetchtv full includes the Tasmanian NBN sites; It’ll be across all NBN locations,” he said.
You can contact the author of this post by email at brenton.currie@itechreport.com.au
