From January 27, 2010 N.W.Telecom offers a new service to make “Game-pack”, a five-games set, available to Avangard TV service users directly on their home TV set screen. The service was enabled by integrating a VAS (Value Added Service)* platform into the IP TV hardware/software package.

Currently, Game-pack is accessible to Avangard TV users in St. Petersburg, but in the future, it will also be offered to users of this service in other regional branches of N.W.Telecom.

The service is activated automatically, and requires no additional payment. It becomes accessible as soon as the user menu interface (SUI) is updated; for this, the user has to manually reset the user decoder (Set Top Box.)

The VAS services are accessed from the main page of the user menu. To start the game, you select the item with the game’s name from the list of services. The game process will be controlled with a remote control panel.

The Game-pack package comprises both multi-user games with a real opponent, such as “Battleships”, “Reversi”, or “Renju", and single-user games like Sokoban or Tags. In the future, the number of games and other VAS-based services will grow.

“The extendability of the range of services offered by using a built-in VAS platform enabling to add new entertainment and information services is an important competitive advantages of broadband access,” notes O. V. Popov, Associate General Manager and Commercial Manager of N.W.Telecom. “This year, we intend to increase the number of applications to become accessible to Avangard TV service end users, and to expand the scope of the VAS services offered.”

For detailed information on the Avangard TV service, TV channels, extra services, and charge rates, visit the product website www.avangard-tv.ru.

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Avangard TV is a package of interactive multimedia services provided on the basis of IP technologies via broadband communication networks. In December 2007, full-scale operation of the Avangard TV started in St. Petersburg, and in November 2009, the Komi branch became the fourth branch of N.W.Telecom where this service is implemented (also, Avangard TV is successfully operated in Novgorod Oblast and in Kaliningrad.) Currently, about 15,000 of the Company subscribers use IP TV. Accessible to Avangard TV users are 67 satellite and on-air channels on various subjects (news, sports, films, music, and many others.) 

VAS (Value Added Services) is a term popular in the telecommunications industry to denote services offered not via the program kernel but via additional platforms. VAS services enabling providing most diverse services for subscribers, including games, information, and entertainment. 

* CJSC Business Computer Center contributed as the system integrator.