EU wants single mobile TV standard

Stuart Corner
Monday, 19 March 2007 08:29

Business IT - Technology

FLO is being positioned as an alternative to DVB-H and can operate on CDMA200, 1x EV-DO and WCDMA networks. According to Qualcomm, "compared to other multicast technologies, FLO technology is designed specifically for use in mobile devices where low battery power consumption is critical, enabling it to offer superior mobility, power efficiency and coverage characteristics - considerations that are fundamental to the mobile handheld consumer usage environment."

Complementary to these technologies is Qualcomm's MediaFLO content distribution system, announced in March 2004. It is designed to make intelligent decisions about when to send content over a network made up of any number of different wireless technologies, including FLO and EV-DO Platinum Multicast. "In particular, the MediaFLO system allows operators to transmit unicast or multicast content over their cellular networks and seamlessly combine it with multicast content transmitted using the FLO technology," Qualcomm says.

Qualcomm has built a US-wide MediaFLO network will be able to support between 50 and 100 channels of national and local content, including as many as 15 live streaming channels in addition to ones featuring video clips and audio. US telco Verizon recently launched a mobile TV service in 20 markets in the US on the MediaFLO network.

Qualcomm and British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB) announced plans in May 2006 to conduct the first technical trials in Europe of FLO and MediaFLO in the UK. http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/4239/127/

3GPP - the WCDMA 3G standards body has developed Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS. It will be available both for GSM/EDGE and WCDMA.

Another contender is Huawei Cell Multimedia Broadcast (CMB) technology, billed as a simplified version of MBMS. This has been deployed in Hong King by PCCW.