Alliance formed to push DVB-H

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 25 January 2006 03:29

Business IT - Technology

A number of major multinational IT companies - Nokia, Intel, Motorola, Texas Instruments and Modeo (a company owned by Crown Castle International) have formed the Mobile DTV Alliance to promote the DVB-H technology standard for mobile TV.

The alliance aims to encourage open standards for TV broadcasts to mobiles, focusing on the North American market. DVB-H (digital video broadcasting - handheld) technology bypasses mobile networks and broadcasts directly to modified cellular handsets from TV masts, allowing millions of phone users to access the service at the same time.

The Mobile DTV Alliance said more than 10 DVB-H network trials are under way or have been completed, including in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States. The Australian trial, in Sydney, in being undertaken by Telstra, Nokia, and The Bridge Networks.


DVB-H competes with Qualcomm's Flo technology. Qualcomm and its MediaFlo subsidiary set up the Flo Forum in mid 2005 to promote the technology. Qualcomm is building a US-wide network that would use FLO and spectrum in the 700MHz band to distribute content to handhelds. Capacity on the network, which is due for completion in 2006, will be resold to cellular operators and Qualcomm says it will enable them to "beam music and video to several types of 3G (third-generation) handsets, including CDMA2000-1x, 1xEV-DO (Evolution-Data Only) and WCDMA."