Shanghai Telecom and Shanghai Media Group will be collaborating with Siemens (SI) to offer Internet protocol television (IPTV) services to a national market that now includes about 25 million broadband users and 360 million television viewers, announced the Siemens Communications Group at a press conference held yesterday in Shanghai.

Shanghai Telecom has been successfully testing the Siemens SURPASS Home Entertainment solution and, by the end of February, the operator plans to use the Siemens portfolio to offer IPTV services to 5,000 households in the Shanghai borough of Pudong.

Market research firm In-Stat predicts that China's IPTV subscribers will grow to about 4.5 million IPTV users by 2008.

The Siemens SURPASS portfolio will enable Shanghai Telecom to provide its subscribers, via a DSL connection and a set-top box, with television programming, Internet access, video on demand, digital recording of television programs and video conferencing made possible by a Web camera placed on the television set. Interactive wagering during live sports telecasts – popular in China – will also be available to subscribers.

Built on an open, standards-based architecture, the Siemens SURPASS Home Entertainment solution provides rich user experiences, efficient back-office management tools and the building blocks for complete convergence of entertainment, communication and smart home solutions.