Ericsson enhances Compression portfolio and MDN Services

Nishant Batra, head of Engagement Practices, Ericsson India shares his insights on Ericsson's plans for the media and entertainment sector. The company is planning to increase its presence in the space by offering video compression and MDN services.

Q. What is your play in Broadcast and Media services?

Ericsson has an end to end play in the space, our Broadcast and Media services are spread across the entire media value chain of content acquisition, creation, management, exchange and delivery to consumers. We have been global leaders in advanced video compression technology solutions for 20 years. Today, we have also become leaders in the broadcast satellite, contribution and distribution markets, worldwide. In India, four out of the seven DTH operators use Ericsson’s video compression technology.  integrating our technology & services we help media service providers enhance their ARPUs by optimal utilization of resources, content or network. Our extensive portfolio of managed services enables broadcasters to make significant operational and capital savings by assuming responsibility for technical platforms, while speeding time-to-market and minimizing business continuity risks.

Q. Who are the customers you are targeting with your solutions?

Our major focus for the India market has been on our Compression portfolio and Media Delivery Network (MDN) Services. Ericsson now plans to partner with all key stakeholders including Service providers, DTH Players, Content providers, and broadcasters to deliver next generation TV viewing experience to consumers. We also have a plan in place to strengthen our TV & Media business with an expanded product portfolio to meet the needs of a fast expanding and dynamic TV& Media industry. We envisage a strong growth in this space and expect to achieve a 15% market share in India by the year 2017.

Q. How are your solutions different from other players?

Ericsson, along with its partners is taking the lead in driving the transformation in the TV and media landscape in India.  Our global scale, our services offering, cutting-edge portfolio, and industry knowledge position us as a leading enablement partner for our customers globally. With extreme network control and efficiency from content to consumer, we also help Fixed, Mobile, and Converged Network Operators within the media value chain for fast time-to-market innovation and monetization. Ericsson’s Media Delivery Network solution redefines the traditional concept with a unique, single-platform approach to the delivery of managed and unmanaged content. With the integration of our technology & services, we are able to help media service providers enhance their ARPUs by better utilization of resources, content or network.

The fact that over 50 percent of video on demand content around the world is now processed by our technology is a testament of our success across global markets.

Q. What opportunities and challenges do you see in the Connected TV Space in India?

For Ericsson the connected TV space in India holds huge potential. Dramatic changes are underway in the TV & broadcast industry. With the transition to multi-platform, on-demand television and Ericsson is taking the lead in driving this transformation together with our partners. Indian service providers are ready to make investments to cater to the consumers’ demands for increased convenience and enhanced experience.  We recently became enablers to Tata Sky, to launch India's first commercial 4K video service- customers subscribing to this service can watch video up to four times the resolution of the standard high definition (HD) video currently available. We have also tied up with Tata Sky and Sun TV for the deployment of our video compression platform. Further the government’s decision to digitize the cable platforms across India also presents huge potential for players like us to offer next generation services. Regarding challenges, bandwidth is a key challenge currently in enabling a seamless experience to consumers across different platforms.