Optus' N96 users get a taste of mobile TV broadcasting

Stuart Corner
Friday, 23 January 2009 09:57

Business IT - Technology

A bunch of Optus mobile customers with Nokia N96 phones are getting to enjoy the benefits of digital video broadcast to handheld (DVB-H) services under Australia's second trial of the technology which delivers up to 30 video channels over a single 7MHz UHF TV broadcast channel.

Optus' N96 users get a taste of mobile TV broadcasting
A bunch of Optus mobile customer with Nokia N96 phones are getting to enjoy the benefits of digital video broadcast to handheld (DVB-H) services under Australia's second trial of the technology which delivers up to 30 video channels over a single 7MHz UHF TV broadcast channel.

The trial which will run until 28 February, is running nine video streams  and has been made available to selected Optus mobile customers. The content includes: Seven Digital, ABC1, SBS Digital, Fox Sports News. Sky News Business, CNN International and Cartoon Network, MTV and MySpace Road Tour.

The N96 ships with DVB-H support inbuilt and the Opts N96 usrs are among 200 consumers participating in the trial which has been co-ordinated by The Australian Industry Group's (AIG) Australian Digital Suppliers Industry Forum (ADSIF), which represents handset suppliers and providers of broadcast services. Other participants are Optus, Nokia, LG Electronics, Broadcast Australia, Nokia Siemens Networks and Australian Digital Testing. LG is also providing a handset for the trial. The DVB-H signals are being broadcast from Broadcast Australia 's Gore Hill transmitter in Sydney.

There were no commercial DVB-H handsets available for the last trial  which used custom devices provided by Nokia. "These were not very sophisticated," ADSIF coordinator, Tim O'Keefe, told iTWire. "Screen resolution and battery life have improved dramatically you can get about five hours continuous viewing."

Some trial participants are using their own Nokia N96 devices. The LG device is not yet commercially available in Australia and details of it were not available as this article went to press.

O'Keefe said that the trial was aimed primarily at lobbying the government to progress with development of the regulatory framework and spectrum allocation to make mobile broadcast TV possible, rather than promoting DVB-H as the best technology.

"There are a number of technologies available and we say the government should not make a determination on technology: that should be left to whoever gets the licence" (DVB-H, Qualcomm's MediaFlo and the Korean T-DMB standard would all operate in a 7MHz channel, O'Keefe said.)

He added: "We are trying to get the government to allocate some of the available spectrum that was set aside by the previous government. The current minister put everything on hold and was going to make an announcement in December but we have heard nothing yet. We are trying to ensure that mobile TV remains on his agenda."

He said that, rather than nominating a technology the government should confine itself to "setting out a regulatory framework for us to work with and to setting out a timetable for allocation of the spectrum... We know the technology works, and we know the consumers are looking for this."