New Mobile TV Flavor: TDtv

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The mobile TV technology, dubbed TDtv, utilizes UMTS TD-CDMA technology -- and cellular channels -- in the recently defined 3GPP Release 6 Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Standard (MBMS). By the end of 2007, IPWireless claims, the cost of adding TDtv to a handset will be around $10.

It joins other cellular and broadcast technologies such as DVB-H (at 1.7 GHz), MediaFLO (at 700 MHz) and DMB (at 2.3 GHz). MediaFLO and DVB-H are really mini television stations. Instead of trying to stuff video onto a duplex cellular channel like Verizon's VCast, MobiTV and GoTV, these mobile video services use standalone wireless networks. TDtv would use cellular frequencies. The difference is that it could multicast the same signal to hundreds or thousands of subscribers, using the spectrum more efficiently.


Being part of the 3GPP family of standards also means that TDtv has far better integration with WCDMA systems than Mobile TV technologies that require a dedicated frequency. By utilizing the Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BMSC) as defined in the 3GPP standard, the two networks can work in unison to deliver services to subscribers.

IPWireless, which has been using simplex cellular channels to deliver mobile data, is targeting mobile operators already offering W-CDMA based 3G networks. It says TDtv offers advantages over the competing mobile TV solutions since providers can use their existing spectrum and infrastructure.

EE Times says several European and Asian operators have already committed to pilot TDtv based networks operating at 1900MHz or 2100MHz in the first half of 2006, as has Sprint Nextel, which is already trialing IPWireless’ TD-CDMA technology based broadband access equipment.

TDtv enables the delivery of up to 50 channels of TV for standard screen size phones, or 15 higher quality QVGA channels via existing 5Mz of unpaired 3G spectrum available across Europe and Asia. In Japan, IPMobile plans to trial the technology for their services in their recently awarded 2010MHz spectrum. The mobile TV solution will also be made available to operators in the other frequency bands that IPWireless supports globally, including the 2.5GHz band.

The IPWireless architecture is designed to integrate seamlessly with WCDMA on both the network and device side. At the cell site, the very low cost TDtv base stations can easily be co-sited on existing WCDMA sites without additional regulatory issues.

When this new standard may actually show up in chips and services remains to be seen. 3GPP Release 6 includes numerous new features, among them being High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), the second phase of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), inter-working with Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), and Enablers for Push to talk (PoC).

Relying on W-CDMA infrastructure may be TDtv's weakness as well as its strength. Any HSUPA upgrade will take years, perhaps 2009 or later. By that time competitors like MediaFLO and DVB-H will be well established. In the United States, only Cingular currently uses W-CDMA. MediaFLO and DVB-H could potentially have a larger market since both W-CDMA and EV-DO carriers can integrate that technology into their phones. Laptops and PDAs could also be used to receive mobile televison via standalone networks like MediaFLO. Cellular service is not required with TDtv's competitors who are rolling out this year.

Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless announced that Qualcomm and its subsidiary MediaFLO USA, are working with Verizon Wireless to bring its customers real-time mobile video over the MediaFLO multicasting network in the United States.

Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless expect to launch mobile TV services over the MediaFLO network in approximately half of the markets already covered by Verizons' EV-DO-based broadband network. Verizon Wireless will be the first U.S. wireless service provider to offer MediaFLO when the network is commercially available in 2006.

Competitor Modeo, the DVB-H mobile television technology being developed by Crown Castle Mobile Media, announced that it will begin rolling out DVB-H services in the top 30 markets across the USA this year.

By 2007 Crown Castle said it will offer the service to 30 U.S. markets covering about half the population. It will feature about 10 video channels and at least 24 audio channels that can be received by cellphones, PDAs and other portable devices. The DVB-H enabled Nokia N92 has DVB-H built in. Nokia likes mobile television delivered OTA via the DVB-H standard.