Lack of broadband capacity hinders Cantv’s IPTV

Although Venezuela’s public telco Cantv announced an IPTV launch almost two years ago, the service is still barely available in the capital, as there is not enough broadband capacity to support Internet access and video transmission.



cantv banda anchaAccording to complaints from users, Cantv’s broadband doesn’t reach the publicised 10Mbps, of which 8Mbps would be for IPTV and 2Mbps for Internet. Indeed, the public telco doesn’t even allow users to subscribe to any IPTV package outside of the capital area, Gran Caracas, preferring to deliver pay-TV via satellite.

The company has stated: “in order to access Cantv television, IP users will be directly contacted by the marketing team when detected that the broadband connection meets the requirements”.

In addition to linear pay-TV, the IP platform enables users to access a video-on-demand (VOD) catalogue, time-shifted viewing and other interactive functions.

Cantv announced the IPTV launch in May 2014, coinciding with the seventh anniversary of its nationalisation. Since then, the service hasn’t really expanded, while the DTH platform already reaches around 900,000 homes.