Humax, Saudi Telecom Company, JT Group join Open IPTV Forum (OIPF)

The Open IPTV Forum is pleased to welcome three new members – Humax, STC (Saudi Telecom) and JT Group (Jersey Telecom) – who will be participating in the Forum’s work to shape the future of Internet Connected TV.
Humax is one of the world’s largest Set Top Box (STB) vendors. On joining the OIPF, Bob Hannent, Senior Technology Manager, Humax said: “Humax has a strategy towards the use of open standards as much as possible with its next generation products, and, as such, it wishes to engage with the industry in order to facilitate the growth and adoption of these standards”.
STC, Saudi Telecommunications Company, is the largest telecom service provider in the Middle East region and was the first to offer (in 2010) a commercial IPTV service. With revenues of nearly $16bn, STC is also the OIPF’s first member in the Middle East. Sami Al Zomaia, Director of Data and Broadband Services at STC said “STC joins the OIPF to be able to influence and network with related companies so as to learn, influence and contribute to IPTV technology and services in the future”.
JT Group are the leading Tier 1 Network Operator in the Channel Islands, currently deploying a ubiquitous FTTH network across the island of Jersey by 2015, giving every home and business on the island access to amongst the world’s fastest Broadband speeds. Dave Newbold, Chief Operations and Technology Officer at JT Group commented, “JT’s vision is to become the partner of choice for global telecoms innovation. As an example of what this means we are currently partnering with UTStarcom to host their European R & D function in our new facility known as JT Lab and so making use of the point-to-point FTTH network which we are currently rolling out in Jersey. IPTV forms another part of this and will clearly be enabled further with next generation of fibre broadband services.  That’s why given our FFTH project we are delighted to now become members of the OIPF in order to be help contribute to its successful development and bring these exciting new products and services to our home market”.
Dr Nilo Mitra, OIPF President, announced the new members at the Forum’s 22nd plenary meeting in Montreal, hosted by Rogers Communications, Canada.
“We welcome Humax, JT Group and STC to the OIPF and look forward to their active participation in the work of the Forum. Each of these major players is a leader in its own way, with innovation in STB technology, with FTTH deployment and as a major operator in the Middle East region respectively. Having them on board reflects the growing understanding within the industry of the importance of Open Standards for a Global Mass Market for IP and Connected TVs”.
“These new members come at a critical time for the OIPF, as we plan the first trial deployments of OIPF technology in live networks. These trials follow the Forum’s latest successful lab trial, sponsored by Orange France Telecom, which concluded during May”.
As well as larger businesses and long established companies, the OIPF has been successful in attracting smaller business in the past few months, with new members including 3 Screen Solutions, Broadpeak, Digisoft.tv and Zenterio. This ensures that the needs and market requirements of all players in the value chain are reflected in the work of the OIPF, and that those companies can also benefit from an advanced and in-depth understanding of the forthcoming specifications that will enable a mass market for IPTV globally.
Large, small and medium size companies can propose themselves for OIPF membership today by contacting the Secretariat (join@oipf.tv) to initiate the membership process. A maximum 80{e1f18614b95d3cd6e4b3128e1cd15d99b042a60a5a19c19b7a8e07e7495efa10} fee discount is offered to businesses with revenue under €10m joining now.