Etisalat, LG tie-up for IPTV service

Telecom company Etisalat and Korean electronics company LG on Tuesday entered into partnership for delivering content through LG's smart TVs using Etisalat's broadband service in UAE.

As result of this alliance, Etisalat announced its video on demand service, OnDemand and web based video service OnWeb which will be available to its fiber-connected residential customers on all of Smart TVs of LG.

"We believe this partnership and OnWeb service will create a new channel for providing our broadband customers with video content and Apps," Matthew Willsher, Chief Marketing Officer at Etisalat said in a statement.

Etisalat's fiber-based services, will have OnWeb service directly available through LG Smart TVs that customers purchase in UAE.

Etisalat recently completed the fiber deployment in Abu Dhabi and it has plans to connect entire UAE with fibre network by 2012.

LG has developed broadband-connected TVs that can deliver internet-based content, mostly video, from popular or social websites, in addition to content from broadcast TV providers.

The Smart TV is supported by a technology that is integrated set-top-box to the TV sets.

LG is targeting to develop more than 550 applications for LG App store by June of 2011. The platform includes a web browser so users no longer need to turn on their laptop to access the internet, the statement said.