Petaling Jaya: Cuzzy Advanced Convergence Laboratories Sdn Bhd expects the local user base for its free digital television service, Xtreme Broadband Broadcast TV (XBB.TV), to double from 96,000 to 192,000 by year-end, said chairman and chief executive officer Jeffrey Raj.

He is also confident the local viewer base would double by the end oe next year on the back of the Government's efforts in increasing the take-up of broadband infrastructure.

"The business model has proven successful. With increasing conversion of analogue TV and radio to digital transmission and the Government's plan to boost the information and communications technology (ICT) industry, our business is set to grow even futher," he told StarBiz.

The Government last month unveiled a four-year plan, called the Malaysian Information, Communications and Multimedia Services Strategy 886 (MyICMS 886), to boost the growth and competitiveness of the ICT industry.

Among the goals are at least one in four homes has broadband access, five million third-generation (3G) mobile service subscribers, mobile TV for 90% fo wireless service users. digital multimedia broadcasting to 95% of households and migration to the faster Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)-based networks by 2010.

"To date, users from the United States, Britain and Australia constitute 70% of traffic, while 18% comes from Singapore and 12% from Malaysia," Raj said.

XBB.TV was launched as a subscription service in January last year, but the business plan was remodelled in March to adopt the free-to-air TV industry standards, thus allowing for free delivery service.

Raj said the business model had proven successful, as the company had been generating income for XBB.TV through banner advertising and corporate sponsored and syndicated content.

This year, corporate clients from Britain have contributed 60% to advertising sales, the US and Australia 20%, and Malaysia and Singapore the balance.

Cuzzy also plans to deploy similar services for the 3G platform.

The site won Cuzzy the award for "Best of Media and Entertainment" at the Multimedia Super Corridor-Asia Pacific ICT Awards 2005.