According to Red Herring, Ruckus Wireless announced that the leading French electronics retailer 'Darty' will sell its Wi-Fi system to IPTV subscribers who want to avoid the usual television signal distribution wiring within their homes.
It is the first retail deal signed by Rukus, and their first IPTV connection package marketed to consumers. Until now Ruckus has marketed its in-home systems through phone companies. Telcos such as Pioneer Telephone in the U.S. offers their customers the option of using Ruckus� MediaFlex system instead of the aesthetically less-pleasant coax wiring that connect most cable TV systems.
Darty will offer Ruckus�s system as an add-on to a variety of IPTV services such as Wanadoo, France Telecom, Alice, Neuf Cegetel, Dutch Telecom, and AOL. The Ruckus package being offered by Darty can be installed by customers. They plug the Ruckus MediaFlex router into their existing broadband gateway and a MediaFlex adapter into each set-top box via an Ethernet connection.
French Leadership in IPTV
France has about 2 million IPTV subscribers, according to Infonetics Research. The country leads the world in IPTV adoption, according to the Gartner Group. Gartner predicts that by the end of 2006, almost half of Western Europe's IPTV subscribers will be based in France � a total of 1.7 million, generating revenue of $181 million. By 2010, Gartner expects the number of subscribers in France will reach nearly 5 million and generate $875 million in sales.
It is the first retail deal signed by Rukus, and their first IPTV connection package marketed to consumers. Until now Ruckus has marketed its in-home systems through phone companies. Telcos such as Pioneer Telephone in the U.S. offers their customers the option of using Ruckus� MediaFlex system instead of the aesthetically less-pleasant coax wiring that connect most cable TV systems.
Darty will offer Ruckus�s system as an add-on to a variety of IPTV services such as Wanadoo, France Telecom, Alice, Neuf Cegetel, Dutch Telecom, and AOL. The Ruckus package being offered by Darty can be installed by customers. They plug the Ruckus MediaFlex router into their existing broadband gateway and a MediaFlex adapter into each set-top box via an Ethernet connection.
French Leadership in IPTV
France has about 2 million IPTV subscribers, according to Infonetics Research. The country leads the world in IPTV adoption, according to the Gartner Group. Gartner predicts that by the end of 2006, almost half of Western Europe's IPTV subscribers will be based in France � a total of 1.7 million, generating revenue of $181 million. By 2010, Gartner expects the number of subscribers in France will reach nearly 5 million and generate $875 million in sales.