OEN launches FTTP triple play in Houston

Optical Entertainment Network (OEN) today said its fiber-based triple-play service is now ready for delivery to 5000 homes in the northwest side of Houston.

The FISION service includes commercial-grade voice with features such as find-me/follow-me and integrated messaging included at no charge, along with a symmetrical 10 Mb/s Internet access service and a choice of three video packages, each of which features 40 high-definition channels. The packages range from $100 a month (for all three services) to get 200+ video channels plus video-on-demand to $150 to add any two premium channels from a selection of 85, and finally $176 for all premium channels.

“We are passing 5000 homes today, half of which are already connected to the network, and we will be passing 20,000 homes by year’s end,” said Albert Estrada, president and chief executive officer. “On the voice side, we are offering many features at no extra charge, like voice mail, caller ID, call-forwarding and more. We have a find-me, follow-me service that was really hot – you can program in as many telephone numbers to your phone as you like and the network will find you. Plus we can send you voice mail messages to your email as a WAV file attachment.”

The full video package has 400 IPTV channels which are not digitized or compressed and “as many HD channels as we could find,” Estrada said, promising to add more as they are available. To cater to Houston’s Hispanic population, FISION includes 55 Hispanic television networks as well as programming in other languages.

“We have 100 channels that are not available from the local cable operator,” Estrada said. “Our strategy is to deliver as many channels as possible so consumers can pick and choose what they want to watch.”

OEN is also hoping to make money selling its programming to other service providers, including independent telcos, developers, resort communities and others who are planning to build FTTH networks, Estrada said. OEN will build and maintain the network, providing all three services, or will provide its video offering to service providers who already have voice and data services.

The company is scheduled to hit profitability 17 months from now, assuming OEN can make its 37% penetration rate for its FISION service in Houston, Estrada said.

OEN had originally planned to build throughout Houston, but altered that strategy last year, he said, choosing instead to buy an existing fiber network in the northwest area of Houston and upgrade it to an FTTH network that could deliver high quality video services as part of a triple play package.