RTEC Communications has joined the ranks of IPTV providers delivering the service over its cable infrastructure using GoBackTV’s GigaQAM IP cable IPTV technology.

RTEC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ridgeville Telephone Co.; has a two-way, 870 MHz hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) network in the communities of Archbold and Ridgeville Corners, Ohio; and delivers analog video, Internet access and telephone services. Ridgeville and its subsidiaries are gradually migrating to fiber-to-the-home (FTTH).

“The GigaQAM IP lets us expand our HFC cable video services by leveraging our existing fiber-based IPTV services,” said Ken Miller, RTEC’s general manager. “We especially like the fact that the GigaQAM IP enables us to use the same [customer premises equipment (CPE) / set-top box (STB)] for our FTTH-based IPTV customers and our HFC customers, which simplifies the installation process for our technicians. It also works seamlessly with our existing IPTV middleware and conditional access vendors.”

“The current deployment delivers multiple channels of MPEG-2 / MPEG-4 content in parallel with our analog service,” said David Gobrogge, RTEC assistant manager. “One very useful feature of GoBackTV’s cable IPTV solution is its switched digital video capability, which helps reduce bandwidth demands.”