du makes HDTV push with Tilgin contract

du, the UAE's second-largest telcommunications company, has quietly signed a contract with Swedish firm Tilgin to upgrade its Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) network infrastructure for roughly US$800,000.

The agreement, which is not listed on du's press release website but is readily available on several industry blogs,will bolster the company's high-definition IPTV offerings when it makes an official commercial rollout of the service sometime in the future.

When that actually will happen is not entirely clear, although sources have told Digital Production ME that it will begin sometime in 2010 as regional operators begin to launch their HDTV channels to the region.

Etisalat, du's chief competitor, has already made big strides in finalising its FTTH infrastructure build within Abu Dhabi. As The National already reported, Etisalat is attempting to outfit the emirate with full FTTH capability by the third-quarter of this year, an ambitious undertaking that will make the capital the first in the world to fully migrate to FTTH technology. The company is reported to be using Chinese equipment maker Huawei Technologies for their FTTH network build. Photo caption: du advertisement at Sharjah International Airport. Pawan Singh / The National