Korea's Hanaro Telecom doubles IPTV revenue

South Korean telecom giant Hanaro said it more than doubled its TV revenues over a six-month period. Hanaro reported revenues of $8.4 million on Hana TV, its IPTV offering that launched in July 2006.

Hanaro said the second-quarter results were "more than double the revenues of the previous quarter." Over the same period, pay-per-view revenues increased from $217,000 to over $1 million, Hanaro reported. The subscriber base for Hana TV now exceeds 500,000, the company said.

Hanaro also reported finishing the quarter with more than 1.23 million subscribers to its 100 Mbps broadband service, which is now available to 9.8 million households, up from 4.3 million at the end of 2006. The company uses super highspeed modems made by Ambit, the Taiwan company developing a branded gateway for Vonage.

Hanaro's telcoTV competitor, KT, recently launched its IPTV play, Mega TV, with a goal of amassing 300,000 subs by the end of the year. Both telcos are persevering in spite of reported regulatory complications, increased competition and takeover talks.

For more:
- Hanaro's quarterly earnings release is here
- VarietyAsiaOnline provides an update of Korea's telcoTV market here

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