Independent Telco Goes with New MPEG-4 Technology

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Bruce Telecom is introducing BruceTV, leading the way for telephone companies in Canada using MPEG-4 technology to deliver digital television.

"We're proud to be leading with this technology. It's a global standard for audio-video compression and that is good for our customers – and good for our business," Hans O. Nilsson, Bruce Telecom President and CEO, said in a release.

MPEG-4 is the newest version of a technology that compresses audio and video (AV) digital data so that less bandwidth is required in delivering quality sound and pictures. The format was developed by MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group), the international committee of researchers and engineers that also developed the Emmy Award-winning standards known as MPEG-1 and MPEG-2.

MPEG-4 delivers high quality digital sound and picture to the television set – including HDTV – and at the same time, uses less bandwidth than MPEG 2 or 1 to do so, the company describes.

With BruceTV this quality is being delivered via a telephone line, although MPEG-4 can also be delivered via satellite. 'Digital' refers to format, how the TV signal is delivered. It does not require HDTV, which uses a specialized HD television set. Digital TV can be delivered to any television set.

For Bruce Telecom, using MPEG-4 compression means it can offer more channels with the same bandwidth and for residents, it means using a single phone line connection to cusotomers homes for multiple television sets, high speed Internet and telephone services.

Bruce Telecom is an independent telecommunications company that has been providing telephone service along the Lake Huron shoreline for almost 100 years. In addition to
phone service, Bruce Telecom also offers digital TV, Internet service (dial-up and high speed), long distance telephone savings plans, and is an authorized Rogers wireless provider. In 2007, total revenue was $15.25 million, which is earned not only from Bruce Telecom's 14,500 telephone service customers, but from additional Internet customers throughout Southwest and south Central Ontario.

The ability of Bruce Telecom to employ MPEG-4 technology goes hand-in-glove with its ongoing expansion of services, most recently into Southampton, ON part of the Municipality of Saugeen Shores – the rest of which is already served by Bruce Telecom.

"When the opportunity to offer local phone service to Southampton opened up, it seemed a perfect opportunity to dig in the fibre optic cable and deliver all of our services," Nilsson added. Bruce Telecom's One For All bundled service includes telephone service; video on demand; high speed Internet; digital television and long distance plans.

MPEG-4 and Bundled services are also available to customers without fibre optic cable. "We have customers in our serving area without fibre optic cable into their homes and they get excellent delivery over the existing copper wire," he explained.

Today marks the first target date for Phase One – getting fibre optic cable into the main sections of Southampton, as a free upgrade to the residents. To date, almost 1000 residents of Southampton have signed on for Bruce Telecom to connect fibre optic cable to their homes. Said Nilsson, "I want to personally thank all of our team, Bruce Telecom staff, our partners – suppliers and contractors –and our customers, for successfully reaching this milestone with us."


mediacastermagazine.com - Mediacaster - 2/2/2008