UTStarcom launched its India ?Internet Protocol Partner Program? focused on research and development (R&D) to provide a single-window solution to telecom operators for providing better value-added services to subscribers.

UTStarcom is working with more than 20 partners in developing these rich applications that can be added on to its IP-based offerings. The applications in the immediate pipeline include tele-education, gaming, social networking, gaming, widgets, advertising, messaging convergence and contextual information.

Says Vijay Yadav, vice president and managing director of UTStarcom?s South Asia operations, ?As the recognized leader in broadband and Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) in India, UTStarcom is a proactive contributor to industry growth.

By building an ecosystem for IPTV, we aim to aid faster adoption of this revolutionary technology among Indian audiences by helping telecom operators create a compelling pull factor built on technologically robust and tested applications.?

Multimedia Research Group (MRG), in its latest Global IPTV Market Leaders Report released in March 2009, ranked UTStarcom as the leading Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) provider in Asia, leading the Access, Video-on-Demand (VOD), Set-top-Boxes, Middleware and Content Protection categories.

MRG spokesperson Jose Alvear states: ?In emerging markets, operators are seeking open solutions with proven interoperability to continually offer better services to consumers. These solutions can help increase their ARPUs, reduce churn rate, and help them stay ahead of the innovation curve.?

The UTStarcom IP Partner Program is open to partners in various fields of the IP value chain, including testing equipment, content, remote technical debugging and complaint redressal and more. Four innovative applications have already been tested on UTStarcom?s technology platform and will soon be rolled out for service providers.

Some of the IPTV services being developed or evaluated under the program include on-demand education / learning, TV travel booking, movie ticket booking, interactive maps, gaming, TV video blogging, hospitality solutions, widgets (for weather, stocks, cricket scores, etc.) and customer analytics (for TAM ratings).