DVB-H

Nokia launches three N-Series smartphones

Sue Marek — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:11:33 -0400

Nokia launched three new N-Series smartphones--the video-centric N96, the N85, and the N79, a candy bar-styled phone with changeable covers. Although the manufacturer doesn't have a U.S. carrier deal for the phones, they will be available through Nokia stores and online.

All three HSDPA phones have WiFi connectivity and use the Symbian Series 60 Version 3 operating system. They come with a microSD memory card slot, GPS and a 5-megapixel camera. The N85, which has an OLED screen, will be available for $600 to $650. The N96, which supports DVB-H (a mobile TV standard not available in the U.S.) will cost $750 to $800. The N79, which has removable covers, will be available for $500 to $550. All phones will be available before yearend.

For more:
- See this PC Magazine article

Related articles:
Mobile World Congress: Nokia unveils 4 phones
Nokia unveils fancy carbon fiber phone

ALSO NOTED: Off-deck grew 20%; Dish plans DVB-SH? and much more...

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:59:50 -0400

> Samsung plans to open 300 mobile phone-centric stores in India. Article

> Off-deck revenue grew 20 percent in 2007.

> Dish Network to use 700 MHz winnings for DVB-SH?

> LG's enV2 launches on Verizon Wireless tomorrow. Release

And Finally... Australia now has more mobile phones than it does people. Article

ALSO NOTED: Spike Lee does mobile; Moto does movies; and much more...

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:59:50 -0400

> Spike Lee does the mobile thing

> Motorola developing mobile movie service

> DISH Network trialing DVB-SH mobile TV standard

> Quattro launches NFL Draft mobile website

And Finally... Allergies bothering you? It could be your mobile phone. Article

DVB-H May Not Be Dead Yet

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 06:59:59 -0400

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DVB-H May Not Be Dead YetÃ‚Â

Yesterday's announcement that AT&T had agreed to purchase $2.5 billion in 700 MHz spectrum from privately-held Aloha Partners, parent firm of DVB-H proponent Hiwire, seemed to signal the end of DVB-H in the United States. Hiwire was the only remaining U.S. DVB-H player after Crown Castle International announced earlier this year that it was planning to spin off its Modeo business and exit the market. Hiwire was planning to use that 700 MHz spectrum to deploy a nationwide mobile TV network and this summer it launched a DVB-H trial in Las Vegas with partner T-Mobile USA.

But AT&T didn't just buy the 700 MHz spectrum from Aloha, it also purchased the Hiwire assets. I spoke with Scott Wills, president and COO of Hiwire, this morning and he said that those assets include the tower sites and the infrastructure equipment as well as access to the entire DVB-H ecosystem. He added that the current DVB-H trial in Las Vegas with T-Mobile USA will continue through the end of the year.

Wills wouldn't comment on the implications of this deal and AT&T has said that it's not sure how it will use the spectrum. But I think it's entirely possible that the operator will use that spectrum to deploy a DVB-H network and launch its own mobile TV service.

I know that AT&T is currently working with Qualcomm's MediaFLO subsidiary to launch a mobile broadcast TV service this year, but I've always felt that the alliance between those two parties was made because AT&T felt pressure from Verizon's broadcast TV offering (using MediaFLO) and the company felt the existing DVB-H players (Medio and Hiwire) were not progressing as quickly as AT&T desired.

But there's nothing stopping AT&T from using MediaFLO technology as a stopgap measure until the company can deploy its own DVB-H network using the spectrum it just purchased from Aloha.

I think there are some very compelling reasons for this strategy. AT&T could deploy a DVB-H network, offer more channels of programming than Verizon (Hiwire can offer 24 channels of programming while MediaFLO can offer just eight) and negotiate some interesting content deals that provide customers with programming whether it's over AT&T's U-Verse IPTV system, over AT&T's broadband network or over its DVB-H network. Doesn't this scenario fit with AT&T's three-screen philosophy?Ã‚Â I think it does. -Sue

What's eating Qualcomm Inc.?

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 06:59:59 -0400

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What's Eating Qualcomm Inc.?
At first blush, you might answer: What isn't? Its closest ally, Verizon Wireless, has just inked a deal with its litigious arch-nemesis Broadcom. The EU has more or less written off its MediaFLO technology by choosing DVB-H for mobile TV in Europe. And President Bush is mum on whether he will veto the ITC decision to ban its chips from importation into the U.S.

By the end of this week, however, you'll see that this was a good one for Qualcomm, and on (nearly) all fronts.

First up: The Broadcom situation. Sure, Verizon Wireless has to pay a whopping $6 per phone to Qualcomm's rival, but Qualcomm still gets to supply its chipsets to the carrier. Plus, the limits imposed on the deal make for a far sweeter accord than Qualcomm could have inked with Broadcom. As we mentioned earlier this week, Verizon Wireless president and CEO Lowell McAdam told analysts that he was looking for "opportunities to mitigate" the costs with "involved parties." A colleague of mine quipped that means passing the buck to Verizon's subscribers, but I disagree: Qualcomm will pony up since it's a better deal than it could have gotten solo.

The decision to go with DVB-H in the EU for mobile TV did not come as a surprise to many in the industry, however, it is a significant blow to Qualcomm's hope to ink deals overseas with its FLO-based mobile TV offering. The EU, however, is now mulling whether to lift its 1987 mandate for basic GSM technology in the 900 MHz band (see the full story below), which could pave the way for Qualcomm to ramp up more deals with its next-generation wireless technologies like W-CDMA.

Back to mobile TV: Qualcomm's FLO has more or less conquered the U.S. The company has already announced deals with AT&T and Verizon Wireless for its FLO technology, and this week Crown Castle announced it was shuttering plans to roll out its Modeo mobile TV service. So the big carriers and Qualcomm no longer have to worry about what little threat the independent competition posed.

What's more, a study from iSuppli found that Qualcomm has surpassed Texas Instruments as the world's leading supplier for integrated circuits for mobile devices thanks to strong growth in EVDOÃ‚Â (full story below).

Of course, there's still that veto, which would be precedent-setting and, therefore, unlikely. On top of that, the smart money is on other carriers following Verizon Wireless' lead and inking deals with Broadcom sooner rather than later.Ã‚Â

On balance, this week will still be a good one for Qualcomm, however, as this afternoon's third-quarter results announcement is expected to be full of strong financials and growth. -Brian

P.S. There's been a lot of talk today about the iPhone "missing" its projections during Q2 for AT&T and Apple because it "only" sold 146,000 units during the first day and a half. If I recall correctly there were no projections from the companies for that time period, only outlandish ones for the opening weekend from some financial analysts: 500,000 (Piper Jaffray) or 525,000 (Global Equities Research). Hardly worth the headline.

Crown Castle effectively pulls mobile TV plug

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 06:59:55 -0400

Broadcasting and mobile infrastructure provider Crown Castle effectively pulled the plug on subsidiary Modeo's DVB-H mobile TV service, announcing it will lease its nationwide 1670-1675 MHz spectrum to a venture formed by Telcom Ventures and Columbia Capital for $13 million annually through Oct. 1, 2013. Crown Castle has transferred to Telcom and Columbia assets related to Modeo's New York City trial network, and will serve as the preferred provider of tower infrastructure as the spectrum is further deployed. Crown Castle will also incur a $10 million loss related to the Modeo project.

After more than three years of development, in January 2007 Crown Castle International finally announced the Big Apple beta launch of Modeo's live mobile TV service, which included live content from Fox News and Discovery Channel as well as streaming audio content from Music Choice. Despite lagging behind rivals MediaFLO and HiWire, Crown Castle said it planned to launch the Modeo network without pursuing carrier partnerships, instead focusing on securing wholesale partnerships with wireless operators--in April, Modeo president Michael Ramke said the company also was working on service enhancements including a video-on-demand service and increased interactivity. He also touted an FCC waiver, awarded in February, allowing Modeo to increase its transmission power.

For more on the Crown Castle spectrum dump:
- read this release

EU picks DVB-H(not FLO)

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 06:59:56 -0400

As expected, the European Commission has decided to favor the DVB-H standard and will add it to its list of standards this month. The commission is calling for a single broadcasting technology standard because it wants to accelerate mobile TV efforts across Europe.Ã‚Â

The news is a blow to Qualcomm's competing MediaFLO technology, which the firm was hoping to get licensed in Europe. In December, the firm announced it had conducted a joint technical trial in Cambridge with British Sky Broadcasting.

The FLO Forum, which was formed to promote MediaFLO technology, said today that it believes the commission's intention of favoring one particular mobile TV technology for Europe could stall the advancement of the mobile TV ecosystem.

Nevertheless, we think this EC mandate could provide a much-needed boost to the U.S. DVB-H market, which has so far languished. DVB-H proponents HiWire and Modeo have yet to secure an operator partner. Hiwire partnered with T-Mobile USA to test its service in Las Vegas this summer, but the carrier has not committed to a commercial deployment. Ã‚Â

For more on the EC's decision:
- read this press release

Related articles:
E.U. pressing for DVB-H standard. Article
European mandate may propel U.S. DVB-H. Article

Modeo may just go it alone

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:01:37 -0400

An interesting piece ran in The Register about the prospects of Modeo, the subsidiary of Crown Castle that is building a DVB-H network to wholesale to operators. The company is expected to launch in October, but hasn't wooed an operator and is expected to go it alone. Modeo has already indicated that it is targeting devices beyond mobile phones so that may be the route it has to take. Cingular Wireless was a hopeful candidate, but its soon-to-be parent AT&T and MobiTV launched a live TV subscription service for broadband. Cingular already uses MobiTV. Ask Cingular Wireless folks about DVB-H, and they inevitably roll their eyes. They aren't ready to make that foray now, since they are just cutting their teeth on this stuff. Still, Modeo's video quality was quite impressive from what I witnessed at the show.

To read more about Modeo's possible go-it-alone strategy:
- take a look at this report from Faultline that ran in The Register

Modeo picks Penthera to power DVB-H network

Mon, 22 May 2006 20:01:38 -0400

Mobile TV operator Modeo announced a major commercial contract with a relatively unknown vendor to power its DVB-H mobile TV network. Modeo chose Penthera Technologies to provide a mobile broadcast control and data system for Modeo's network operations center in Pittsburgh and the interactive client software powering Modeo's first handset. Penthera says it has developed interactive technology for DVB-H that allows mobile TV operators to embed the equivalent of hyperlinks into their broadcasts for advertising purposes.

For more about Modeo's deal with Penthera:
- read this report from Telephonyonline

Nokia snags first commercial DVB-H contract

Wed, 10 May 2006 20:01:36 -0400

Finnish infrastructure operator Digita today signed up Nokia in the world's first commercial Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DVB-H) mobile TV platform supply contract. Digita obtained the DVB-H mobile TV license from the Finnish government in March and intends to rent out network capacity to broadcasters. Nokia will deliver its service management solution for DVB-H services that will support content such as live TV, radio and video clips to mobile devices. Digita expects the network to reach 29 percent of the population in Finland by year-end, and it plans to extend the network based on negotiations with possible service operators.

To find out more about Digita's DVB-H plans:
- read this report from telecoms.com (sub. req.)

QUALCOMM develops DVB-H chips

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:01:39 -0500

QUALCOMM has gotten quite savvy in its old age. The wireless chipmaker said it has begun developing mobile TV chips based on the DVB-H standard, although it believes the technology is inferior to its MediaFLO technology. But QUALCOMM has learned a big lesson throughout the years: It needs to put technology biases aside and look at the bigger market. The company still holds the stigma, especially in Europe, of being a CDMA IS-95 zealot, which was the instigator of technology wars in the late 1990s when standards bodies were developing 3G specs. But now it's reaping rewards from both the CDMA2000 and W-CDMA chip market. Today, QUALCOMM can't ignore the fact that most of Europe will be deploying DVB-H technology.

For more about QUALCOMM's DVB-H plans:
- read this article from TeleClick

Cingular testing DVB-H

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 19:01:36 -0500

Not surprisingly, French mobile TV chip maker DiBcom says Cingular Wireless is testing the semiconductor company's DVB-H chips. As a GSM operator, Cingular has aligned itself with Europe, which is poised to launch DVB-H, while CDMA operator Verizon Wireless plans to use QUALCOMM's MediaFLO mobile TV network. The U.S. market is poised for another GSM vs. CDMA type of battle when it comes to mobile TV technology. But the interesting wild card will be Sprint, which is going to build its own TV services in the 2.5 GHz band.

For more about Cingular's interest in DVB-H:
- read this article from Red Herring

Industry leaders make DVB-H pact

Sun, 22 Jan 2006 19:01:37 -0500

Intel, Crown Castle's Modeo, Motorola, Nokia and Texas Instruments have formed an alliance to accelerate DVB-H deployments in North America. Called the Mobile DTV Alliance, the organization's goal is to foster growth throughout the industry, offering more choices across the value chain from silicon, handsets, services and more. The Mobile DTV Alliance believes this move should allow mobile DTV handsets and services to reach the mass market faster and lower cost to consumers.

Europe is seeing at least 10 DVB-H trials, but U.S. operators are just now working out their business plans. Verizon Wireless has been the only operator to announce plans to use a separate network for high-speed mobile TV using QUALCOMM's MediaFlo, which recently announced Samsung and LG will build phones for the network. Sprint says it will use its spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band for mobile TV. Modeo will launch DVB-H in 30 cities by 2007 with plans to offer 10 video channels and at least 24 audio channels, though the company hasn't signed a programming deal or named any operator partners. The Mobile DTV Alliance wants to prod the rest of the operators along.

For more information about the Mobile DTV Alliance:
- read this press release from Texas Instruments

MediaFLO vs. DVB-H: The battle for market position

Mon, 02 Jan 2006 19:01:35 -0500

The idea of transmitting high-quality video services to mobile phones using a separate network has finally caught on with at least one U.S. operator, Verizon, opening the door to a host of other competitive announcements. Verizon has committed to using QUALCOMM's upcoming MediaFLO network for mobile-video services, while competing tower company Crown Castle, offering rival DVB-H technology, is feeling mounting pressure to unveil a carrier partner for its network and move nationwide (it hasn't announced any nationwide plans yet).

As QUALCOMM and Crown look to woo operators, look for a bunch of technology bashing from both reminiscent of the GSM versus CDMA debate that was prevalent in the 1990s and still flares up from time to time. Who will be more adept at attracting content partners? Who will be more cost effective? I suspect we'll see old alliances involved as GSM operators likely adopt DVB-H like their European counterparts and QUALCOMM signs on CDMA operators. Look for 2007, however, to be the proving ground for the concept of leasing another network to provide television services. Operators and their content partners will spend 2006 deciding what content customers want and how it should be packaged.

Elsewhere, a bevy of potential business models for high-quality mobile TV will emerge with interest in MediaFLO and DVB-H coming from broadcasters, media groups and carriers themselves looking to construct a broadcast network. QUALCOMM and KDDI are setting up a mobile TV joint venture in Japan using MediaFLO. In Western Europe, operators are ramping up their TV offerings in a bid to provide true broadcast-quality TV to handsets by 2008, with DVB-H emerging as the leading video-broadcasting standard throughout the region. Operators including Vodafone, Orange, O2, KPN and TIM are pushing ahead with DVB-H pilots on the back of the success of their current 3G TV offerings.

Oxford gets mobile TV

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 20:01:36 -0400

O2 will test its digital video broadcasting for handhelds (DVB-H) technology next week in the UK. The six month trial period will allow 400 subscribers access to 16 streaming video channels over their mobile phones. Nokia and Arqiva teamed up with O2 to facilitate the service. During the trial period of the service, the user needs to attach a special receiver with the DVB-H technology, but Nokia plans on embedding the technology in future models.

For more on the O2 mobile TV trials:
- take a look at this story from vnunet

KPN tests mobile TV

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 20:01:35 -0400

Dutch carrier KPN has started trials of DVB-H mobile TV system. The company plans on broadcasting "normal TV" using DVB-T technology, except reformatted for smaller mobile phone screens. KPN also plans to test an interactive component of the TV service that will let users click through to locate specific items of content, such as video clips of music tracks.

For more on KPN's mobile TV trial:
- view this blog entry