ABTA suggests use of pay TV in official digital inclusion program

ABTA?s executive committee met Thursday, July 10, with Communications Minister Miro Teixeira to propose the use of pay-TV networks in the Government?s digital inclusion program. According to Alexandre Annenberg, executive director of ABTA, the idea is to leverage the industry?s infrastructure to offer multiple services such as digital TV and IP telephony.
?Cable in particular will be indispensable,? he says. ?The coverage of cable TV is currently 60,000 kilometers, reaching 11 million homes. Add that to wireless technologies and you have huge capacity to provide broadband access.?
Pay-TV infrastructure could be an unrivaled means of achieving digital inclusion and universal access to new services, Mr Annenberg stresses. Miro Teixeira was reportedly receptive to the idea of using pay-TV networks for the Government?s digital inclusion program.