TV5MONDE Asia has reinforced its IPTV distribution across the APAC region with two new deals and a renewal. In India, the French-speaking channel has been available since January 1 on Aksh Optifibre’s service in the basic tier in Delhi, Mumbai and 20 other major North-western Indian cities. The service currently has 20,000 subscribers, according to the operator. Aksh Optifibre tied up with public ISP Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) in 2006 to roll out their IPTV service in Dehli and Mumbai and benefit from MTNL’s existing base of broadband subs, estimated at 920,000 as of February 2009. TV5MONDE Asia is also available in India to 7.2 million subscribers on numerous cable platforms (Siti Cable, Hathway Cable & Datakom), as well as DTH on DishTV. In Vietnam, TV5MONDE Asia will be available in the basic tier on VASC’s up-coming IPTV service starting from launch on July 1. VASC is the media division of dominant telco group Vietnam Post and Telecommunications (VNPT) providing cable ADSL to 1.3 million subscribers, a 60 percent market share, and the only operator authorized under current regulation to provide ADSL services to all 63 cities and provinces in Vietnam. The current distribution of TV5MONDE in Vietnam also includes cable services from VTV, VCTV, HTV and SCTV, as well as DTT coverage on VTC, DTH on VTC Multimedia and IPTV on FPT, for an estimated total of 4.4 million subscribers. In Japan, TV5MONDE Asia renewed their agreement with SC Media & Commerce to broadcast on their IPTV platform’s basic tier. TV5MONDE is also available in Japan on IPTV on World-On-Demand (The New Media Group) and on pier-to-pier via SoftBank’s ‘BB Broadcast’ technology, for a total 300,000 subscribers.