The mobile TV ecosystem was filled with TDtv news last week as IPWireless Inc. announced two new partnerships and upcoming trials.
The network technology company says it’s teaming up with mobile streaming providers Vidiator and MobiTV Inc. to develop mobile TV solutions based on the Third Generation Partnership Project Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Standard.
In January, IPWireless launched TDtv, which it says combines its UMTS TD-CDMA technology with the 3GPP’s MBMS technology. The TDtv technology reportedly allows wireless operators to deliver mobile TV broadcasts using their existing next-generation spectrum and cell site infrastructure. This is considered a huge advantage over competing DVB-H and MediaFLO standards, both of which require separate networks, IPWireless said.
TDtv is designed to operate in the universal unpaired 3G spectrum bands that are available across Europe and Asia at 1900 MHz and 2010 MHz where TDtv trials will soon be announced with operators, IPWireless added.
Interestingly, the company noted that TDtv also would be available in other frequency bands, including the 2.5 GHz band, so it makes sense that Sprint Nextel Corp.-which has a stockpile of 2.5 GHz spectrum-is trialing IPWireless’ UMTS TD-CDMA technology in Washington, D.C., and also plans to run a trial of TDtv in the United States.
But Sprint Nextel’s involvement is not at all surprising since it has invested upwards of $14 million in IPWireless since July 2005.
Whether other operators sign on remains to be seen, but clearly things are looking up for IPWireless, having raised more than $200 million since its founding in 1999.
“We have received a tremendous reaction to TDtv from operators because they see the opportunity to deliver a fantastic mobile media service experience to customers and show regulators and investors that they are using and getting a return on their 3G spectrum,” said Chris Gilbert, chief executive officer of IPWireless.
The partnership agreements also indicate that IPWireless’ TDtv is a serious contender for MediaFlo and DVB-H.
Vidiator supplies streaming server capabilities to UMTS and CDMA operators around the world, including CAT in Thailand, People in Hong Kong, Digi in Malaysia and a number of customers in Europe. Vidiator claims that its customers’ networks reaches more than 60 million 3G subscribers on four continents. The company has developed a next-generation streaming server that supports Broadcast Multicast Service Center, which is the element that controls broadcast and multicast content for both TD-CDMA and WCDMA UMTS networks as defined by 3GPP Release 6 MBMS.
“While everyone talks about mobile television and its promise for the future, IPWireless and Vidiator are acting on it,” said Connie Wong, chief executive of Vidiator. “Combining our advanced BMSC and Xenon streaming technology with IPWireless’ TDtv solution demonstrates to carriers that we are capable of taking on this challenge of delivering this broad new market opportunity to them in the here and now.”
The agreement with MobiTV Inc. is expected to leverage the newly defined 3GPP Release 6 MBMS standard to allow an infinite number of subscribers to watch the same channel or use the same network bandwidth. In addition, the partners said they would co-develop solutions enabling operators to migrate subscribers in high-usage areas to TDtv using existing 3G spectrum.
“We are committed to delivering the MobiTV service on any platform and across any network,” said Phillip Alvelda, chief executive officer of MobiTV. “Our partnership with IPWireless to develop a high-efficiency multicast solution that will utilize existing cellular infrastructure is a natural complement and extension to the growing reach of our mobile television and music services. These new network technologies will allow even more profitable delivery of our most popular stations in even the most crowded cities.”
Based on successful trials, IPWireless said it expects commercial TDtv networks to be rolled out by mid-2007.
Industry analysts expect mobile TV to play a pivotal role as national carriers race to keep existing subscribers happy and recruit new ones.
“With the three major carriers aligning with three competing technologies, a true horse race to deliver mobile TV has begun,” noted Mark Donovan, vice president and senior analyst with M:Metrics Inc. “Ultimately consumers don’t care about technology, they care about the experience it delivers. It’s an open question as to whether TDtv, DVB-H, or Flo will deliver a superior experience, but the size of the bets being made to make mobile TV a reality are the biggest yet in the mobile media sector.”
