Reliance Infocomm Ltd and Microsoft Corp have signed an agreement to jointly create, test and deliver next generation Internet Protocol-based television services, using an IPTV solution being developed by the US-based company.

"This technology will help us to offer customers a variety of services for a rich TV experience, including next generation broadcast TV and video-on-demand services," Reliance Infocomm spokesman Amit Khanna said in Mumbai on Thursday.

Microsoft Corp would provide software for the services, which would be relayed over Reliance Infocomm's existing broadband network, he said.

The software would be developed by Microsoft TV, a division of Microsoft Corp, and would be ready by early next year, he said, adding, the implementation is expected to be completed in two years time, Khanna said.

Terming this as ushering in of the convergence era, Khanna said the solution would enable web surfing, e-mailing, online gaming with multiple players, apart from enabling users to access over 1,000 channels over the company's broadband network.

Video-on-demand, music-on-demand, video chat and e-commerce, apart from telemedicine are certain other features, which would be provided over the network, he said.

"This is next generation technology, after conditional access system and direct-to-home," he said.

The relationship would also enable the companies to test Microsoft technologies, like Windows Media 9 Series, Microsoft .NET and Microsoft Windows Server 2003.