Nokia Launches Pilot Television Broadcast Project for Mobile Phones

Europe / ASIA : There are a number of interesting developments and technologies that will see the delivery of television and radio broadcasting to mobile phones, handheld devices, and automobiles before the end of the decade.

Mobile technology will have a significant role in providing broadcasting services. Handheld television services can allow broadcasters to reach their audience regardless of where viewers are located.

3G or UMTS technology, that many mobile operators have spent billions of dollars developing, will be unable to cost-effectively broadcast live TV programs to many clients simultaneously.

Digital Video Broadcast Handheld, or DVB-H, standard for the services, and Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting, or DMB, can provide live broadcasting at far less cost.

Technical trials of DVB-H services are currently under way in Europe and US, and Nokia recently launched a pilot project enabling mobile phone users to watch television broadcasts on their handsets in the Helsinki region.

Korea's SK Telecom's Satellite DMB service will provide a multimedia mobile broadcasting service that converges telecommunications and broadcasting. The satellite DMB enables customers to view broadcasts on handheld terminals like mobile handsets, PDAs or in-car devices.

The satellite DMB service provides 25 audio channels for music, news, education, and 3 data channels for information services.

Samsung Electronics has completed development of the world's first satellite DMB chip for mobile phones. Korea Telecom plans to launch satellite DMB in 2006.

To help you understand the opportunities from a consumer point of view, APRG has polled mobile users from seven Asian countries on their perspectives for receiving live broadcasts on their mobile handsets.