A small South Dakota operator is claiming big returns following the upgrade of its IPTV middleware.
Valley Telecommunications, which provides IPTV, internet, and phone service to around 3,500 customers in North Central South Dakota, says it has added more than 200 customers since the implementation of its middleware upgrades in the first quarter 2017. Though the figure may be small relative to gain made by larger operators, General Manager Jeff Symens said it’s a big deal for an operator of Valley’s size.
Valley indicates it made the switch to Innovative Systems’ APMAX IMS Application Server for its IPTV offering, giving customers access to advanced time shifted viewing features and apps. The upgrade for new and existing subscribers includes Restart TV and Cloud DVR services, the latter of which protects customer recordings at the central office level. A new weather app also offers customers upfront access to weather conditions, animated radar visuals, and forecasts embedded in the program guide.
The updated middleware works on Valley’s existing set-top boxes, which helped keep capex costs for deployment down and eliminated service calls related to the deployment of those cloud DVR services.
Valley indicates the upgrades came in preparation for its plans to expand into the Ipswich, S.D., market, a move that is currently underway. Symens attributes much of the growth achieved from the change to word-of-mouth sharing, and is hopeful the positive feedback will help Valley better compete against its main regional cable rival going forward.
