The number of IPTV users in Shanghai nearly doubled in the first five months of this year with the launch of new value-added services, said an official at China Telecom, the country's biggest IPTV operator.

More than 420,000 people used the Internet Protocol TV service by the end of May in the city, compared with 230,000 last year, Wu Dongli, vice general manager of China Telecom's Shanghai division, said during the Fifth China International New Media Forum yesterday.

Shanghai's IPTV platform is adjusting existing value-added products and developing new services to promote the application for families, he said.

For example, its relaxation games, which were launched on May 31, attracted 34,000 users in four days, which showed the popularity of interactive products, he said.

"Value-added services will be the major profit source when IPTV enters a mature period and will fuel operators to enhance competitiveness," said Zhang Fan, founding managing partner of Sequoia Capital China.

China's IPTV users will grow at a significant pace this year stimulated by the Beijing Olympic Games, and the service is expected to enter a fast-growing period in the next five years, said Zhang.

He estimated that China's IPTV users will reach 35 million in 2012.

China Telecom's research showed that about 20 percent IPTV users hope the service can offer shopping in the future, Zhang said.

IPTV incorporates an Internet-based protocol and allows watchers to play back programs or record them in advance.

(Shanghai Daily June 12, 2008)