Analysts, service providers and vendors agree: The MPEG-4 ready set-top boxes are very, very close to making their mass market debut in North America, following months of anxious anticipation. Many independent telcos have delayed their network upgrades while waiting for the next-gen technology to arrive. Tut Systems blamed disappointing revenues on a lack of MPEG-4 STBs in the marketplace after posting its second and third quarter revenues this year. Vendors were showing off MPEG-4 STBs at TelcoTV last month, and most agree the boxes will be ready by the end of the year.
For more on the arrival of MPEG-4 STBs:
- check out this article from Telephony