LS Cable signed a contract with Sinatel, a private broadcasting and communications provider in Iraq, on July 10 to build a US$200 million quadruple play service (QPS) system in Iraq.
Under the contract, the Korean company will set up the QPS system that enables 200,000 wireless broadcasting subscribers in Salahaddin and Karbala states to use the Internet, digital broadcasting, Internet phone and mobile phone simultaneously.
LS Cable plans to start the work in August this year for completion in June 2012. The QPS system includes digital broadcasting, IPTV, LS-HFC, Wi-Fi and other broadcasting communication solutions developed by LS Cable as new growth engine projects.
Service subscribers are able to receive such broadcasting and communication services as HD-class digital broadcasting, video ordering, 100M-class Internet, wired & wireless Internet phones and mobile telephone services through a single cable network, a company spokesman said.
To win the contract, LS Cable invited about 100 Iraqi political and business leaders, including Aiyad Al Samraai, speaker of Iraqi’s National Assembly, Ali Al Adeeb, vice president of the Iraqi ruling party and Telecommunication Minister Farooq Abdulgadr Abdulrahman, to an event for demonstration of QPS in Baghdad on June 29.
Aiyad Al Samraai, National Assembly speaker, said, “Iraq is suffering from insufficient communication infrastructure, including telephones, Internet and mobile phones owing to war in the past. I hope LS Cable will solve such problems by successfully building the QPS system.”
As there is 24-hour religious broadcasting in Iraq, the demand for building a broadcast infrastructure is strong in the country. “The deal is the first construction of a QPS system struck by a South Korean company in network-related fields in the Middle East. We will further explore African, South American and Eastern European markets in the future," Kim Dong-young, senior executive of the company’s Seed Business Group, said.
LS Cable is embracing telecommunication-related solutions as its next growth engine. The company mainly targets emerging markets to supply its distinctive technologies. To back up the target-focused strategy, the company plans to make active investment over the next three years for more high-speed and optical cables, he said
In addition to the solutions, the company also secured a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) solution, and wired & wireless communication solutions to create Smart Grids, while actively fostering them as new growth engines. “By providing customized solutions for clients, we have secured a competitive edge. The markets where demand for FTTH solutions is rapidly growing are the right ones for us,” the company executive said.
The world’s FTTH market is estimated to generate US$12 billion in revenue in 2009 and US$27 billion in 2012, with an average growth rate of 30 percent.
