(20 March 2008 10:30 pm)

MUMBAI: Aksh Optifibre plans to invest $25 million (Rs 1 billion) over the next 18 months towards its IPTV and VoIP project.

The company, which has a franchisee arrangement with MTNL, has already invested $15 million (Rs 600 million). "We are investing $40 million on IPTV and VoIP. This will support 400000 subscribers which we hope to get over a three-year period," Aksh Optifibre managing director Kailash Choudhari tells Indiantelevision.com.

The IPTV services on MTNL network will be commercially launched in Mumbai on 1 April with a bouquet of 100 channels. Aksh has already launched this offering with MTNL in Delhi and has a subscriber base of 3000.

MTNL charges subscribers a price of Rs 499 for a bundled offering of TV channels, broadband and voice. "Subscribers get 50 free calls and 50 mb download is free. Beyond this limit, they will have to pay Re 1 per download and Rs 1.20 per call. The video-on-demand subscription is also free," says MTNL executive director J Gopal.

Aksh and MTNL also announced the launch of video phone calling services - V Spyk. The services will be available in Delhi and Mumbai.

IOL Broadband is the other franchisee which has tied up with MTNL for the content delivery network. It has already launched IPTV services on the MTNL network in Mumbai and is planning a Delhi presence as well.

MTNL has 300000 broadband subscribers in Mumbai. "Our broadband ARPU (average revenue per user) in Mumbai is Rs 600 while for fixed line it is Rs 700. The ARPU for mobile is Rs 300 and VoIP Rs 250," says Gopal.