Europe : 3 UK, the video mobile network, today launched a new high speed video-streaming service called Quickplay. The first of its kind in the UK, this service enables customers to play video clips on their video mobiles in real time, rather than having to download and save them first*.

Inset is Graeme Oxby, Marketing Director 3 UK and says "There is no service that is comparable to Quickplay currently available in the UK".

News, Music and Topshelf are the first services from 3 to offer customers the choice of Quickplay or Save & Play. Quickplay is an enhanced service that has the benefit of immediacy, 3's customers can start watching the latest ITN news bulletin, or an MTV Live Lounge performance just moments after choosing it.

Quickplay also allows 3's customers to watch longer video clips of up to 8 minutes, which would otherwise use up memory on the handset and could take up to several minutes to download. The quality of video clips on Quickplay is the same as that offered by 3's Save and Play service, they typically have a frame rate of 12.5 per second, delivered to the handset using radio connections up to 384 kbits/second, giving smooth video play-back.

The cost of watching a video clip on Quickplay is the same as on Save and Play, the customer simply chooses how they would prefer to watch it. Quickplay also gives customers the chance to sample video or audio clips before buying the full version.

Gareth Jones, COO 3 UK said: "With the launch of Quickplay, 3 underlines its position as the leading provider of mobile video and content services in the UK.

3's customers can now enjoy the benefit of watching high quality video clips within seconds of selecting them, these clips of 3, 5 or even 8 minutes, bring them full music tracks as well as longer entertainment features. Our research tells us that speed of delivery of our video content is important to our customers - this new and unique service means that we're giving them what they want. No other mobile operator in the UK can do this. Quickplay is a European first. The performance of the Vidiator streaming platform has been excellent."

Graeme Oxby, Marketing Director 3 UK said: "Quickplay is part of 3's ongoing programme of product and service development, which ensures that our customers have peace of mind that they're with the leading technology network. There is no service that is comparable to Quickplay currently available in the UK. No other mobile network can currently match the quality, length or speed of 3's Quickplay service. 3 also has a brand-new, state-of-the-art network, with none of the capacity constraints facing other network operators. Products such as Quickplay bring the WOW! to video mobile."

The streaming technology is based on the Vidiator streaming and transcoding platform.