OTE S.A. , the national operator in Greece, is gearing up for an early 2009 commercial launch of its IPTV service, conn-x TV.

OTE, which has been working with Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) as its lead IPTV integrator, announced in early October that it had embarked on a three-month soft launch of the service in selected areas (Attiki, Thessaloniki, Patras, Larisa and Herakleion, and Crete). (See Thomson, Ericsson Bag IPTV Deals.)

Now, in announcing its third quarter financials, the Greek incumbent says full commercial launch of the TV-over-DSL service is expected in "early 2009." It added: "Despite the limited content available during the testing phase, initial customer response was highly encouraging." (See OTE Reports Q3.)

The operator has 924,000 DSL customers (at the end of September), giving it a market share of about 60 percent.

OTE is playing catch-up with Greek alternative broadband operator ON Telecoms S.A. , which says 84,400 of its total 100,000 customers are using its IPTV service. (See Greek Altnet Bags Further Funds.)

— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading