Hawaiian Telcom may be determined to take on the state's near-monopoly video provider Oceanic Time Warner with its own IPTV service on Oahu, but does not want to reveal when it is actually going to start delivering the service.
With its Chapter 11 reorganization well behind it, Hawaiian Telcom was awarded a 15-year cable franchise last month and shortly after announced its intentions to offer IPTV service over its existing copper network.
During a recent news conference, the telco did reveal that its IPTV package, which is available in eight tiers, includes such services as 250 TV channels, DSL Internet, 60 HDTV channels, whole home DVR and phone service. Pricing for Hawaiian Telcom's IPTV service appears to be competitive at $158.75, while a comparable package from Oceanic Time Warner costs about $182 a month.
Customers that are interested in the new service will only be able to get pricing information if they show Hawaiian Telcom an Oceanic bill.
"For competitive reasons we are very limited in what we are able to share in terms of locations and a schedule," said Lester Chu, Hawaiian Telcom's executive director for business development in a Honolulu Star Advertiser article.
What Chu did reveal was that the IPTV trial it has been conducting with a group of 250 homes on Oahu since last year has been "positive."
Given the customer issues Hawaiian Telcom had in the past when it changed owners in 2005 and the mistakes other service providers made with rolling out IPTV, the service provider is understandably taking its time to make sure it gets the service right before scaling it up in Oahu and other areas in Hawaii.
For more:
- Honolulu Star Advertiser has this article
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