Cable & Wireless joins up with Inuk

Cable & Wireless has completed a £70 million deal with Inuk Networks which will see it form the UK's first converged IPTV, VoIP and broadband service.

Running over five years, the contract sees Cable & Wireless providing Inuk with access to the UK's nationwide multicast network enabling the delivery of television, telephony and broadband services.

Cable & Wireless will also offer Inuk's IPTV platform to other wholesale DSL customers who want to provide their customers with a digital television offering.

The triple-play service will be delivered through Inuk subsidiary Freewire, the company's branded platform for the delivery of video, voice and data services.

The service currently has an initial focus on the student market, with over forty universities representing over 100,000 student rooms, signed up to Freewire. Using Cable & Wireless' nationwide multicast network, Freewire will be able to extend its proposition beyond the current user base of students in university accommodation and into the homes across the UK from March 2008.

Jim Marsh, chief executive, Cable & Wireless Europe, Asia & US, said: "This is another great wholesale partnership deal for us and I'm delighted that we've been able to create the UK's most compelling IPTV platform for Inuk. We will concentrate on providing an excellent customer service to Inuk and our other wholesale broadband customers - whilst they focus on delivering a range of triple-play services to our collective consumers."