Bandar Seri Begawan - TelBru is currently having a discussion with a Singapore-based company and relevant authorities on its plan to deploy interactive digital television channels via fibre optic cable to homes, including movies on demand and video conferencing capabilities among other rich interactive contents.

This was confirmed by Juliana binti Ali Ahmad, Chief Executive of ICT Industry Development at the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry (AITI) - a statutory body responsible for telecommunications and radio-communications regulation and ICT industry development in the country.

Juliana said it would be a new era of high-definition digital television, bringing in interactivity and over-the-Internet telephony to Brunei's homes and hopefully spur interactive digital content development opportunities.

The introduction of the interactive television is made possible with the multimillion-dollar 'Fibre to the Home' (FTTH) infrastructure project undertaken by the government under the 10th National Development Plan, she said.

She added that FTTH will increase broadband bandwidth to a staggering speed of up to 100mbps (current maximum residential speed is five mbps).

According to Juliana, the government is installing FTTH cables throughout the nation. At the moment, at the consumer level, FTTH is already available at the Panaga National Housing Scheme area, while FTTH network installation will be completed by this year in areas including Sungai Akar, Madang, Jaya Bakti, Lambak Kanan, Serusop, Lambak, Manggis 1, Berakas, Jalan Kebangsaan Lama, Pulaie, Anggerek Desa, Lambak Kiri and Jalan Muara.

The subsequent phases will be carried out accordingly from 2013-2017.

The aim is to have the FTTH network providing up to 87 per cent coverage throughout the whole country. However, in some remote areas, the connection will still be through wireless due to certain constraints, Juliana added.

Hj Emran bin Hj Hassan, General Manager FTTH, TelBru, said FTTH will not only increase bandwidth speed, but also address the frequent public dissents in the past over connectivity problems such as intermittent connection.

There are currently 280 FTTH customers at Panaga National Housing Scheme area subscribing for their broadband connections, in which the bandwidth speed is kept equal to other regions of the country, to be fair. However, Hj Emran added that once FTTH is installed in those regions, TelBru will then bring the speed up.

Hj Emran informed that the interactive digital television will require a different kind of modem. FTTH will bring amenities like interactive television, video-on-demand and even smart appliances and electronics. Furthermore, it will significantly improve the speed and quality of Internet-based services like file and photo sharing, music download, movie download, multi-player online gaming, virtual networking, interactive distance learning, telemedicine and several other applications.