Four European operators are combining resources to trial yet another new mobile TV technology. 3UK, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone have joined forces for the launch of TDtv a competitor to DVB-H, DMB, and MediaFLO.
Based on the Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services (MBMS) Standard provided by IP Wireless, TDtv allows 3G operators to offer bandwidth heavy mobile TV, audio and other IP datacast services, without impacting voice and data services on the main network.
Orange had already announced in February this year that it would be looking at the technology, but the others are new to the trial.
Professor Michael Walker, Director of Research and Development at Vodafone said: “Trials are an extremely important part of our strategic product development. In the case of mobile TV, there are a number of technologies emerging that must be fully explored so that we have a comprehensive understanding of how the technologies work and the experience they will offer. Currently the most interesting technologies are the variants of MBMS and DVB-H and this trial forms part of the MBMS assessments we are undertaking.”
The networks will test the system in the Bristol area using 12 of Orange's cell sites, delivering TD-CDMA-3GPP MBMS to people issued with special compact flash cards that plug into a Dell PDA.
The cell sites have been enabled with TDtv base stations provided by IPWireless, and are said to cover about 60 percent of the Bristol area. The area includes a major motorway, the M4, so that reception of mobile TV at speeds of 70mph can be tested.
The four networks aren't the first to test mobileTV in the UK, O2 are currently trialing DVB-H in Oxford with Nokia, and BT together with Virgin Mobile have trials of the DAB-IP based Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) technology.
Vivek Badrinath, Executive Vice President, Product Technology and Innovation, Orange. "We believe that it is important that leading service and content providers work together to examine options for future mobile TV platforms."
Orange had already announced in February this year that it would be looking at the technology, but the others are new to the trial.
Professor Michael Walker, Director of Research and Development at Vodafone said: “Trials are an extremely important part of our strategic product development. In the case of mobile TV, there are a number of technologies emerging that must be fully explored so that we have a comprehensive understanding of how the technologies work and the experience they will offer. Currently the most interesting technologies are the variants of MBMS and DVB-H and this trial forms part of the MBMS assessments we are undertaking.”
The networks will test the system in the Bristol area using 12 of Orange's cell sites, delivering TD-CDMA-3GPP MBMS to people issued with special compact flash cards that plug into a Dell PDA.
The cell sites have been enabled with TDtv base stations provided by IPWireless, and are said to cover about 60 percent of the Bristol area. The area includes a major motorway, the M4, so that reception of mobile TV at speeds of 70mph can be tested.
The four networks aren't the first to test mobileTV in the UK, O2 are currently trialing DVB-H in Oxford with Nokia, and BT together with Virgin Mobile have trials of the DAB-IP based Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) technology.
Vivek Badrinath, Executive Vice President, Product Technology and Innovation, Orange. "We believe that it is important that leading service and content providers work together to examine options for future mobile TV platforms."