Orange Business Services and Solidere, the Lebanese company for the
development and reconstruction of the Beirut Central District, have
launched Lebanon’s first IPTV service.
Since May 2008, residents in central Beirut have been enjoying 120
on-demand television channels with a range of movies, sports and TV
programs streamed directly to their TVs over a state-of-the-art Metro
Ethernet network. It is believed to be one of the first commercially
available IPTV services in the Middle East, and the first to support
broadcast and on-demand HDTV. The service has been delivered,
installed, supported and integrated into the existing Solidere-operated
private broadband network that was designed
and deployed by Orange in 2006.
Lionel Reina, vice president of the Eastern Europe, Middle East and
Africa region, Orange Business Services, said: “Beirut is a 21st century
city so it deserves 21st century telecoms services. By bringing our
expertise of developing broadband and IPTV services in Europe to
Lebanon, we have created one of the most advanced IPTV services anywhere
in the Middle East. This is just one step in our goal to enable Smart
Cities throughout the region, where broadband is the fundamental
building block for improved living and working.”
Subscribers to the IPTV service receive an integrated home gateway and
set-top box featuring a personal video recorder, which also supports
time-shift TV and video-on-demand. Each subscriber has a 100 Mbps access
line ensuring there is sufficient bandwidth for more than three
simultaneous TV channels as well as high-speed Internet access.
The IPTV network is supported by the existing Solidere-operated private
broadband network that was designed and deployed by Orange in 2006. This
MPLS network supports a range of multimedia
services alongside a scalable Internet gateway including
video-on-demand, videoconferencing, closed circuit television, and
gaming services.
Solidere’s IPTV service, the first of its kind in Lebanon, is being
implemented by Orange under its Solutions for Operators service.
Solutions for Operators specifically addresses the needs of existing or
new telecoms operators like Solidere whose strategy is to offer next
generation telecommunications services as a core component of their real
estate developments to assure previously unobtainable revenue streams.
*About Orange*
Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world’s leading
telecommunications operators. France Telecom serves close to 174 million
customers in five continents as of June 30, 2008, of which two thirds
are Orange customers. The Group had consolidated sales of 52.9 billion
euros in 2007 (26.3 billion euros for the first half 2008). As of June
30, 2008, the Group had 113.8 million mobile customers and 12.2 million
broadband Internet (ADSL) customers.
Launched in June 2005, the NExT program (New Experience in
Telecommunications) will enable the Group to pursue its transformation
as an integrated operator and make France Telecom the benchmark for new
telecommunications services in Europe. In 2006, Orange became the
Group's single brand for Internet, television and mobile services in the
majority of countries where the company operates, and Orange Business
Services the banner for services offered to businesses worldwide. France
Telecom is the number three mobile operator and the number one provider
of broadband Internet services in Europe and one of the world leaders in
providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.
France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartiment A)
and on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more information: www.orange.com, www.francetelecom.com,
www.orange-business.com
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this
material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications Services
Limited, Orange France or France Telecom.
