(24 November 2005 8:00 pm)

MUMBAI: The UK-based specialist in products and technology for IPTV, triple-play, and in-home multimedia distribution Amino has announced that it has enabled leading independent telecommunications holding company SureWest Communications as it prepares to become the first US broadband service provider to offer high-definition (HD) television services over IP.

Through its current beta testing phase, SureWest has already rolled out Amino's AmiNET120 HD set-top box to a core group of subscribers in the Sacramento, California region. With the first high-definition IPTV roll-out of its kind in the USA, SureWest customers will be able to enjoy the same live sports, Hollywood Films, and other high-definition content with the added benefits of IPTV, states an official release.

"Many cable companies have begun to deploy HD services in an effort to attract more subscribers," commented SureWest's vice president and chief technology officer Bill DeMuth,. "Therefore, time to market was a critical factor for us in selecting the AmiNET120, in addition to fundamental quality."

"The design of the set-top box was important to us," explained DeMuth. "Customers appreciate modern-looking equipment that performs at high levels and doesn't take up much space. The AmiNET120 is the smallest high-definition set-top box we evaluated offering advanced functionality and high-performance."

The SureWest fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) infrastructure in the Sacramento region supplies more than enough bandwidth to allow its standard-definition (SD) IPTV subscribers to receive full HD services, the release adds.