You are based in Scandinavia. How are you doing on your home turf and what prospects have you explored outside your region?
Dreampark is currently the dominant IP TV middleware vendor in Scandinavian market covering Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark where we have approximately 70% of the market share in terms of number of operators on the IPTV field. We are trying to expand the business outside Scandinavia. We are looking across the Baltic sea towards Eastern and Central Europe. As of today we have about nine prospects outside Scandinavia.
How many customers do you have?
The total number of installations so far is 14.
Can you provide me some guidance on the scale of your shipments?
We shipped some 30,000 IPTV middleware licenses in 2006. 100% shipments were for the Scandinavian market. In Q12007 we shipped some 10,000 end user licenses, all in the Scandinavian market.
What is the typical profile of your customers?
We have two types of customers. We have customers today who are already serving several million subscribers. They are running either on satellite or cable and have in addition invested in IPTV but these type of customers have not carried out any heavy marketing campaigns to push IPTV. I think this is one of the reasons why IPTV has not really taken off in Scandinavia. The other type would be two customers who are totally greenfield within IPTV. They offer just IPTV and have no other businesss. We are looking forward to them start marketing campaigns now to see how it will take off.
Any estimates that you can provide me regarding the total IPTV subscribers in Scandinavia at present?
My estimate is roughly 180,000 in Scandinavia.
How many of those are being server off your platform?
Out of this 50,000 use our middleware. In Sweden, we have 3 out of 4 operators as our customers. In Norway we have 6 out of 8. In Finland we have 2 out of 4 and in Denmark we have 3 out of 5 as our customers.
Which country in Scandinavia is leading the IPTV market in terms of subscribers at present?
Sweden leads the market. Sweden has roughly 150,000 subscribers. Teliasonera launched a huge marketing campaign a few months ago.
Whose middleware solution do they use?
Teliasonera has in-house middleware solution.
What is the strategy to counter possible future threat from big players like Microsoft?
Microsoft is a great brand name. They have nothing related to IP TV in the market though. When they get something out in the market, they will obviously be targeted towards the tier one customers. Dreampark tries to focus on tier 2 and tier 3 customers. We have all the advantages of a small startups: faster to market and very flexible. Our customers have some influence over our roadmaps.
Do you believe that there will be a market for small players such as yourself?
Yes I firmly believe so. Operators in IP TV are starting small, and starting with simpler features.
Out of all the factors influencing IP TV, which one is realistically the main market driver?
The time shift feature is one of the big benefits with IPTV. You can see the programs when you want. This is basically what we see currently out there. Mainly I would say the time shift feature is the main driver.
Out of all hindrances, which one offers most resistance to IP TV growth?
I would say that bandwidth is the major issue.