The Russian telco Transtelecom (TTK) has entered the country’s IPTV market.
Kommersant reports that its service is already available in 31 cities throughout the country and the company aims to have 50,000 subscribers by the end of the year.
It adds that the service has been launched in partnership with a company named Lifestream, which uses the brand name Smotreshka.
Lifestream, which will work with TTK on a revenue sharing basis, has already helped Orion and NTV-Plus launch similar services. It has also recently announced that it will launch an IPTV service in partnership with Trivon Networks, which uses the Virgin Connect brand.
TTK is controlled by Russian Railways and already has a presence the country’s TV industry, providing analogue and digital cable services to around 320,000 susbcribers in over 100 cities as of the end of 2015.
It also has over 1.5 million broadband internet subscribers.
Although TTK will be competing directly with Rostelecom for IPTV subscribers, industry observers believe the market is not yet saturated and there is room for more players.
Significantly, it buys its content independently and already has contracts in place with Discovery, Sony, Amedia and other suppliers. Furthermore, it is negotiating with OTT services.
Its plans include the launch of VOD and a smart TV application.
