Release of 15.05.2014
- The "Direct2home" satellite product was awarded a prize by Global Telecoms Business (GTB)
- This product facilitates the entry into the satellite business for pay-TV providers
- Global Telecoms Business awards celebrate the successful cooperation between telecom providers and vendors
- Vipnet was also awarded a prize for the implementation of the "Psi"-System for mobile base stations
The much-coveted (GTB) Innovation Awards organized by the English Global Telecoms Business (GTB) magazine were presented in London last night. The Telekom Austria Group's Wholesale unit was awarded a prize in the category "Wholesale Service Innovation" for its "Direct2home" satellite product. With this product, the Telekom Austria Group is addressing end-customers' rising demand for convergent products, while facilitating the entry into the pay-TV market for other providers.
Nina Leindecker-Purrer, Head of Marketing Wholesale - Telekom Austria Group, formally accepted the award at last night's GTB Innovation Summit in London: "The GTB Award demonstrates that our efforts to realize innovative ideas do pay off. For the implementation of this product we have combined the company's existing infrastructure facilities with our knowhow in the fields of satellite communications and TV content."
The Telekom Austria Group has designed and implemented a comprehensive broadcasting solution based on the seamless combination of a single earth station, a single satellite and a single encryption system via the company's fiber optic network. Thanks to the Telekom Austria Group's "Direct2home" B2B product, pay-TV providers can offer their customers direct-to-home (DTH) solutions on a white label basis without any major upfront investments. In addition, pay-TV providers can market their program offering using their own branding, while leveraging Telekom Austria Group's technical services in the background. These include a B2B direct2home platform, with which TV signals are transmitted via the earth station in Aflenz (Styria) to the EUTELSAT's satellite 16A at 16°East and then broadcasted across Central and Eastern Europe as well as in many parts of Western Europe. The DTH reception technology has been designed for both pay-TV and free-to-air programs. The technical basis for the transmission of the TV signals along with other data is provided by the company's high-performance backbone network in Eastern Europe.
The award ceremony took place for the eighth time in a row and prizes were awarded for projects designed to celebrate the successful and highly innovative collaboration between telecom providers and vendors. Guests at the ceremony included international top experts of the telecom industry. In 2012, BT Wholesale, Cable & Wireless Worldwide and NSN received an award. This year, prizes were awarded in 5 categories: fixed network infrastructure innovation, wireless network infrastructure innovation, wholesale service innovation, business service innovation, consumer service innovation. More than 100 entries were submitted to this year's competition.
Telekom Austria Group's Croatian subsidiary Vipnet was also awarded a prize in the category "Wireless Network Structure Innovation". Vipnet is the first operator in Europe to have implemented jointly with Ericsson Nikola Tesla the energy-saving Psi-system (the name of the solution is symbolic, as PSI in Greek has the shape of a fork with three teeth, representing the innovative set-up of the system). Basis stations operated with a "Psi"-system can lower energy consumption by 40-50% compared to other energy-saving systems, while at same time improving 3G coverage.