Europe
: Telecom Italia Mobile, the leading mobile telecoms operator in Italy,
running operations in Greece, Turkey and almost all over South America,
and Nokia have announced that they will collaborate on launching Video
Sharing service for TIM's customers in Italy. This cooperation will
enable the two companies to deliver a best-in-class consumer experience
for TIM's 3G customers, strengthening the two company's long-term
technology collaboration.
Video Sharing is a new multimedia service that enriches 3G mobile
users' communication by allowing them to share a live camera view
or a video clip while speaking on their mobile. It provides the users
with an instant way of adding a visual element into a phone conversation.
Video Sharing is based on standardized 3GPP and IETF technologies.
TIM will offer this service as a part of its set of "combinational
services" that allow to share different content (text, music,
photos and videos) while speaking on a mobile phone.
The possibility to share video in real-time is enabled by the IP Multimedia
Subsystem (IMS) core network infrastructure, currently in use in TIM's
network. In addition to Video Sharing, TIM and Nokia will furthermore
extend their collaboration in the deployment of other services and
applications such as content sharing, media push, IP voice messaging
and push-to-talk, which are also made possible by the Nokia IP Multimedia
Subsystem.
"As the leader in the Italian mobile communication market, we
truly believe in the development of innovative, open solutions for
combinational services like Video Sharing, that will help our customers
enrich their everyday communication," says, Mauro Sentinelli,
TIM's Managing Director. "Our solid and productive collaboration
with companies like Nokia plays a fundamental role in the implementation
of our multimedia services."
"Video Sharing will greatly enhance the consumer experience in
3G by offering a possibility to add a visual element into a phone
call. At the same time, it provides new revenue opportunities for
operators introducing 3G," says Pertti Korhonen, Senior Vice
President and Chief Technical Officer of Nokia. "We believe that
the collaboration with TIM will help us to speed up the take-off of
Video Sharing, and offers valuable experience to facilitate the adoption
of this innovative service in other markets around the world."
Nokia will make the Video Sharing technical description available
to other vendors in order to promote the interoperability of mobile
applications.
About TIM
TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile), listed on the Milan stock exchange, is
the leading Italian mobile operator with 26 million lines in the domestic
market (as of June 30, 2004). With its subsidiaries and associate
companies in the Mediterranean basin and in South America, it has
reached a total of 49.6 million lines (as of June 30, 2004). In the
framework of a competitive scenario noteworthy for its high penetration
rate in the domestic market and characterised by a rapid technological
development, TIM's attention to innovation confirms its leadership
in the traditional voice business while making it one of the fundamental
players in the development of the telecommunications industry. In
the course of 2003 TIM together with Orange, Telefonica Moviles and
T-Mobile, set up the FreeMove alliance, which addresses over 170 million
customers in 20 European countries.