How StarNet migrated its IPTV platform and grew a 10-year partnership with Smartlabs

StarNet is one of Moldova's defining telecommunications operators. Founded in 2003 in Chișinău by Alexandru Machedon, the company is the country's FTTx pioneer — the first ISP in Moldova to build a fibre-to-the-x access network and the first to offer fully unlimited 100/100 Mbit/s broadband (December 2010). By the time of the IPTV platform decision, StarNet had grown into the second-largest ISP in Moldova, sharing approximately 88% of the country's internet market with the incumbent Moldtelecom.

The company operates a nationwide fibre-optic network reaching all of Moldova's major towns and cities, with operations centred in Chișinău. The portfolio is triple-play — fibre broadband, IPTV, fixed telephony — plus enterprise ICT services for business, government, and public-sector clients. StarNet is positioned as the principal alternative operator to Moldtelecom and Orange Moldova in the Moldovan market.

StarNet's existing IPTV service had been built on a legacy single-screen middleware that had served the operator well through the FTTx growth years but was reaching the end of its useful life by the late 2010s. Three pressures pushed the operator toward a platform replacement, and one constraint shaped how it had to be executed.

StarNet evaluated the available multiscreen IPTV platforms in the market before selecting Smartlabs in 2019. Four factors carried the decision:

“Thanks to our partnership with Smartlabs, we will be able to provide new interactive services for our IPTV subscribers to enjoy a feature-rich and unique TV experience. This is a totally new level of media entertainment and user experience we are happy to offer to all the existing and future StarNet subscribers.”

Smartlabs replaced StarNet's legacy IPTV middleware with the full SmartTUBE multiscreen platform: SmartTUBE handling subscriber accounts, content metadata, EPG, entitlements at every playback request, multi-profile management, and concurrent-device session control; the customised SmartTUBE UI deployed remotely to every legacy STB already in the field as an over-the-air software update; the branded SML-5050 UHD Android STB as the device shipped to new customer installations going forward; and high-end client applications for iOS, Android, and major Smart TV platforms — extending StarNet TV beyond the in-home set-top box for the first time. SmartCARE was deployed alongside the platform to give the operator real-time visibility into service performance and user engagement across the deployed estate.

The structurally critical piece was the remote UI deployment: subscribers received the new platform experience on the same device they were already using. No box was swapped, no engineer entered any subscriber's home, no support call was required, and no service interruption was needed for the transition. The next time the TV was turned on, the legacy interface had become the SmartTUBE interface, and the device — formerly running a legacy middleware client — was now a SmartTUBE-managed endpoint.

Almost six years after the original migration, StarNet and Smartlabs signed a contract extension committing to continued platform partnership through the end of 2029 — a five-year forward commitment building on the six years of operational track record already in place. Alongside the contract extension, Smartlabs delivered two new client applications: Hisense VIDAA Smart TV and Amazon Fire TV.

Why the device additions matter

Both new applications respond to specific shifts in how Moldovan households now buy and use televisions, and to where StarNet's subscriber base is going.

• Hisense VIDAA Smart TVs have substantial and growing market share in Moldova and the broader CEE region — particularly in the affordable-Smart-TV segment that often serves second and third TVs in the household. Adding native VIDAA support brings StarNet TV onto televisions that previously required a separate streaming device or set-top box; the service is now accessible through the TV's built-in operating system out of the box.
• Amazon Fire TV is the dominant streaming-stick category globally and an increasingly relevant device class for subscribers who want to add OTT services to existing television sets without replacing the TV. Fire TV reaches both households that prefer streaming sticks over set-top boxes and the segment of Moldovan diaspora subscribers abroad who use Fire TV as their default TV-app platform.

With the addition of VIDAA and Fire TV, StarNet TV now reaches subscribers across every major consumer device environment: the legacy STB fleet that's been running the SmartTUBE UI since 2019, the branded SML-5050 UHD Android STB for new installations, mobile (iOS and Android), and five Smart TV / streaming-device platforms (Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Android TV, Hisense VIDAA, and Amazon Fire TV) — all through one middleware, one DRM integration, and one content origin.

What the contract extension means

The structural significance of the contract extension is what the duration says about the relationship. Five-year forward commitments are unusual in the IPTV / OTT platform space: many operators run platforms on annual or two-year renewal cycles to preserve commercial flexibility. A multi-year forward commitment reflects three things:

• Operational track record. Six years of production operation since the 2019 migration, with no major incidents and a continuous evolution of the platform through SmartTUBE release cycles, established the predictability that supports long-term commitment.
• Vendor roadmap alignment. StarNet's product direction — multi-device reach, modern UX, capable monetisation, AI-driven recommendations — sits inside the SmartTUBE roadmap rather than alongside it. Each new SmartTUBE release lands as a capability StarNet inherits through the standard upgrade path rather than as a bespoke development effort.
• Reduced strategic risk. Locking in the platform partner for five years removes the periodic platform-tender risk that consumes time and creates operational uncertainty. StarNet's technical and commercial teams can plan investments — content, devices, service expansion — against a stable, known platform foundation.

• Full subscriber base migrated remotely in 2019 — with the migration objective of total subscriber transparency met. Zero engineer visits, zero service interruptions, the customised SmartTUBE UI deployed to every legacy STB over the air.
• Six years of continuous production operation through SmartTUBE release cycles, with no major incidents and a steady evolution of capabilities (recommendations, multi-device session control, refreshed UX, expanded device support) delivered through standard upgrades.
• Device coverage extended to every major consumer environment. Legacy STB fleet, SML-5050 UHD Android STB, mobile (iOS and Android), and five Smart TV / streaming-device platforms (Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Android TV, Hisense VIDAA, Amazon Fire TV).
• Contract extension through end of 2029. A five-year forward commitment from one of Moldova's defining telecom operators, building on six years of operational track record.
• A coherent dual-track hardware strategy maintained. Legacy STBs continue to run the SmartTUBE UI for the existing installed base; new SML-5050 UHD Android STBs go to new customer installations; gradual fleet modernisation through natural attrition rather than forklift replacement.
• An operator relationship maturing into long-term strategic platform partnership. What began in 2019 as a migration project is now StarNet's complete TV technology foundation, contractually committed through the end of the decade.

“We were happy to migrate all StarNet subscribers to a new level of modern interactive TV entertainment while the operator can reap the increased business profits and reduced support costs. We are also very proud of our 10-year successful partnership with StarNet.”

With the contract extension securing the partnership through 2029 and device coverage now spanning every major consumer environment, StarNet's roadmap on SmartTUBE follows the standard platform release cycle. New capabilities — AI-driven content recommendations, predictive churn detection, FAST channel monetisation, refreshed UX patterns, additional device categories as they become commercially relevant — become available to the operator through the standard upgrade path. Hardware modernisation continues through the SML-5050 line and successor devices as the legacy fleet evolves through natural attrition. For comparable migration and partnership stories on different fleets, see the Ucom Uplay launch in Armenia, the O2 Czech Republic Android TV migration, the Cooptel multi-tenant build in Québec, and the Tring full-stack upgrade in Albania, or browse the rest of the Smartlabs case studies.