India’s premier state run telephone service operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is learned to have reached an agreement with Aksh Optifibre, a leading optical fiber cable manufacturer, for making available latter’s Interactive Personalized Television (IPTV) to the demanding customers through it’s well laid broadband connection. Initially, the agreement focuses only North Indian markets comprising 20 cities of West Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the deal made with the BSNL, Aksh Optifibre has to generate at least 10,000 customers in next 9 months in the cities of service providing areas. Seeing responses from the subscribers, company may suitably change their areas of operation in near future, said a market analyst. With about 6 million BSNL customers spread across the North Indian cities, finding subscribers for the high-end IPTV service will not be a difficult task, comments a BSNL subscriber.

Aksh Optifibre may need to invest in the tune of Rs. 500 crore to commission their IPTV project. The requisite fund will be collected through the international market, said a media report quoting the Aksh Optifibre. The company is also processing fund issues for providing the same service of IPTV along with Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service through MTNL to the honorable citizens of Delhi and Mumbai, said the source.

Aksh Optifibre will ensure availability high quality imagery coupled with various add-on features like video on demand, etc. to it’s IPTV subscribers through the Aksh-Tel, which is currently well capable to provide nearly 150 channels with an aim to increasingly add more channels in near future to suit the range of customers.