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SLT Visioncom, a fully owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom will invest hundred million rupees to start an Internet Protocol Tele Vision (IPTV) service in Sri Lanka. IPTV is a method of delivering video content through Internet protocol (IP) rather broadband Internet. IPTV has several advantages over traditional or satellite TV services which are interactive and personalized viewing experience, IPTV based converged services and also video on demand (VOD).

IPTV is said interactive and personalized because it gives some unbelievable facilities that you never expected.Some examples are ability to search for your favourite TV program when you need, search for a particular movie by it's director,watch Sana's career records while you watch a cricket match or even you can change the angle of camera during that match. However some of these facilities are possible with some modern satellite services also.

Another useful feature is Video On Demand (VOD) which allows you to select a missed TV program or a film and watch it at your free time. But most probably it will be much expensive. IPTV based converged services are the other incentives that you will get through this service. On-Screen Caller ID is an example for these converged services. Actually they are value added services bundled with IPTV service.

Up to now I mentioned about the things out there. But surly this will not be the reality in Sri Lanka. Because broadband Internet is the critical factor for all above mentioned "dreams". At present SLT's 1.5 Gbps bandwidth is shared among it's 54000 broadband customers and 80 000 dialup users (According to a recent newspaper advertisement, SLT' bandwidth is 1.5 Gbps where a US based files hosting company like Rapidshare has more than 120Gbps bandwidth). In order to roll out an IPTV service, SLT will be required to upgrade their ADSL system to ADLS 2+ .ADSL has several standards and currently SLT uses ITU G.992.1 (A standard define by International Telecommunication Union) standard which supports only max downstream speed of 12Mbps. An ADSL 2+ system is capable of providing theoretically 24Mbps of downstream service (ITU G.992.1 standard).

SLT office express service is currently offered at 6750 rupees which supports max speed of 2Mbps and if we calculate the cost using these values for an 12Mbps ADSL 2+ service which is suitable for IPTV services, it will cost around 40 000 rupees per month. Which means we can expect a price reduction of normal ADSL services after implementing SLT's IPTV service. SLT is sturgeling to launch a WiMax service also since 2006 and more information on this will be updated within few days.

Readers are highly encouraged to comment on any inconsistencies of the "numbers" stated in this article such as total bandwidth of SLT because all those values are based on newspapers and SLT press releases.