We think that games will have an important role in the acquisition of customers"


We speak to Liliana Patricia Chacón González, Director of Colombian telco ETB.

Ms. González joined ETB 11 years ago as a member of the strategy planning area, and has developed experience in planning telecommunications networks and developing strategies for the introduction of new services. Since 2005 she has been responsible for different areas such as Planning Manager, Negotiation and Budget Administration Manager and Multimedia and Television Manager.

Currently she is in charge of directing the introduction of an offer of bundled services for television, broadband and voice based on the deployment of IPTV services.

Where does ETB currently stand with its IPTV service plans?

LG: We have not launched the service yet. We started the tests two years ago and now we are working on the network adjustments. The company is currently sorting a privatisation process, so the main investments for the project development have been suspended until the new owner arrives.


What do you plan on achieving in the next 12 months with the service?

Our main goal is to restart the project in the second half of this year, in order to offer the service next year.

How large a part does content play in your customer acquisition strategy?

We consider that content is the main part. Taking into account the fact that we are entrants to the business and that now competitors have a pretty similar offer, we want to develop a different one combining the content options we already have in our Web portal with the new interactive features. Our strategy is to acquire new TV customers by levering on our Web users, for whom we already have content offerings.


In terms of interactive features, what do you think will especially appeal to Colombian consumers?

We think that games will have an important role in the acquisition of customers. Right now we are developing in our portal a game niche community. Interactive features like recording and remote programming are interesting for people.

We believe in content for niches and we are sure that IPTV features will allow the offering of many different options for the communities.



What challenges remain in making IPTV a mass-market reality in Colombia?

Costs are the main problem. The costs of deployment (in terms of technology investments and content acquisition) are still so high. Investments required for all the network adjustments in order to cover big regions are impossible for most of the operators. Besides, content costs when you are a small operator are very high. And if you add this the fact that people in our country cannot afford high fees, this makes a very tough business case.