mirada supports Uruguayan Government

1 September 2009

Government-led scheme to provide access to public services information.

1 September 2009, London, UK - mirada, the audiovisual content interaction specialist today announced that its digital TV interactive solution is being deployed across three cable TV networks in Uruguay to provide subscribers with free access to Government Information Services, including healthcare and long distance learning. mirada is working with the Uruguayan Government to support an initiative called Plan Cardales, which aims to empower citizens through open access to public services.

The high Cable TV penetration rates in Uruguay make the networks an ideal platform to extend public services information to a significant proportion of the population and so the Plan Cardales initiative has been developed to deliver interactive services via a multimedia home platform (MHP), Set-Top Box. The aim of the initiative is to reach families and individuals in low income areas with a long term objective to reach a total of 700,000 households. The Uruguayan Government believes that greater access to public services, such as education and healthcare will empower citizens and promote social mobility.

mirada is providing the interactive layer which will be deployed across three of the country's leading cable networks, TCC, Monte Cable and Nuevo Siglo. Cable subscribers to each of these networks will then be able to access a number of different public information services, which range from weather reports and recipes, to interactive education and healthcare services. The education service, which mirada facilitates, has opened up the digital TV platform to offer a number of interactive features that provide the opportunity for users to take part in educational programmes.

José Luis Vázquez, Chief Executive Officer, at mirada, explained: "mirada is ensuring that the Uruguayan Government can fully exploit advanced digital television technologies to bridge the ‘digital divide'. Although set-top boxes are more normally associated with the delivery of television, with the right expertise, the basic infrastructure can be exploited to provide a wide range of advanced and interactive public and commercial services. The Uruguayan model is one that could be replicated in markets around the world to extend social inclusion and deliver essential information services to populations that are currently excluded."

In the first phase of the Plan Cardales project mirada has deployed an interactive application launcher together with interactive weather, pharmacy and recipes services. Phase two will see the launch of an interactive learning service. All services have been developed on top of the MHP 1.1.3 middleware utilised for Uruguay's DVB transmissions.

For further information please contact:
K Simon or Matt Humphries at Babel PR for mirada
T: +44 (0) 20 7434 5550
E: Mirada@babelpr.com