LG Electronics revealed Monday the world’s first terrestrial digital-media-broadcasting (DMB) cell phone. It allows consumers to watch television on their cell phones using the Digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) service that allows people to watch broadcasts on both their cell phones and specially developed mobile receivers. DMB uses both terrestrial and satellites to stream low data-rate video.
Terrestrial broadcasters in Korea and Japan (like KBS and SBS) are preparing to provide the terrestrial DMB service next year. Digital Multimedia Broadcasting is based on satellite radio. Instead of CD-quality music, streaming video is encoded in the data stream and picked up directly from a satellite, or more typically, from terrestrial repeaters. It’s similar to the European-backed DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting), using the Eureka-147 standard. DAB and DMB-T. They both use an older version of COFDM, Eureka 147 not to be confused with the most recent version of COFDM, DVB-H.
With LG Electronics’ recently revealed terrestrial DMB cell phone, users can now make phone calls while they watch broadcasts. The company explained that it was the first time that a terrestrial DMB phone had been developed with normal cell phone functions. LG Electronics has committed W20 billion and 130 researchers to developing the terrestrial DMB cell phone over the past two years.
Samsung, LG and Pantech have all developed satellite DMB phones and are waiting for the airborne service to launch. The satellite DMB service was originally scheduled to kick off in September after TU Media, a venture involving Korea’s biggest mobile phone operator, SK Telecom, launched a satellite in the first half of the year. But the Korean Broadcasting Commission put the brakes on a launch until after next year in consideration of KBS, which is preparing for the terrestrial DMB service.
Samsung Electronic is also developing a dual mode DMB phone, which enables people to receive terrestrial and satellite DMB services on the same handset. LG Electronics CEO Baek Woo-hyun said Monday that the company would develop satellite DMB receptor chips, which are currently imported from overseas, within this year and produce its own dual mode DMB phones by the end of 2005.
EE Times reports that Mobile Broadcasting Corp. (MBCo), backed by Toshiba Corp., will begin the service in Japan, and TU Media Corp. is preparing the service for South Korea.
The broadcasts transmit over the MBSAT satellite, launched in March and dedicated to digital mobile broadcasting services in the S-band (2,630-2,655 MHz). Satellite radio broadcasts using the S-band are already offered in the United States by XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.
“MBCo will start multimedia broadcasting, including TV, radio and data programs, which should be the first in the world,” said Masashi Suenaga, vice president of Mobile Broadcasting Corp. “Just as portable radios freed radio reception from the home, the Walkman freed audio listening and notebook PCs freed PC work from the office and home, we will set TV-watching free from the home in 2004. MBCo has built the system (above),” said Suenaga, who was chief engineer of Toshiba’s satellite development program. He proposed and planned the ubiquitous broadcasting system.
The MBSAT satellite has a 12-meter parabolic antenna with sufficient output power to enable signal reception on the ground by small antennas embedded in mobile gear. It works particularly well in Japan and Korea where the populations is concentrated into a relatively small area, enabling the satellite to focus the beam. The hybrid broadcasting system handles both direct reception and includes terrestrial repeaters that enable reception in the shadow of buildings. Both direct reception and signals relayed by gap-fillers use the same 2.6-GHz frequency.
Perhaps it’s merely incidental, but Intel and LG Electronics have agreed to work together on WiBro, the portable WiMax standard that merges Korea’s proprietary mobile wideband standard with the IEEE 802.16e mobilized flavor of WiMax. Millions of mobile wideband users in Korea and Asia are expected, beginning in a year or two.
DVB-H will deliver television to cellphones, PDAs and laptops in the United States and Europe.
Crown Castle plans to broadcast to millions of mobile users in the United States using low powered transmitters on cell towers. They bought 1.6 GHz spectrum across the United States and have deployed DVB-H technology in a three-site, single-frequency network trial in Pittsburgh, according to EE Times. Crown Castle owns 5 MHz of national spectrum in the L band (1670-1675 MHz) and owns, operates and manages over 10,600 wireless communication sites in the U.S..
Meanwhile, Qualcomm’s new MediaFLO network is capable of carrying up to 100 channels, with as many as 15 of them streaming live video. The network will carry content in the nationwide 700 MHz spectrum (UHF TV channel 55) owned by Qualcomm. They plan a one-way broadcast service for mobile users, sharing the resource for U.S. CDMA2000 and WCDMA (UMTS) operators.
MediaFlo (Forward Link Only) uses OFDM outbound to deliver audio and video. Multiple channels within Channel 55 will be made available to both CDMA and W-CDMA carriers as well as MVNOs and content resellers. TV broadcasters could license the network to expand their viewing base to mobile users, particularly those, like sports channel ESPN, that own content as well as distribution. Within its 6MHz spectrum, MediaFlo will be able to deliver 50-100 national or local content channels.
Sprint’s MobiTV service uses cellular frequencies. MobiTV is operated by Idetic and uses Sprint’s own cellular channels. Another service, RealTV, lets you stream prerecorded RealVideo clips of news and sports for $5 a month.
Vodafone live!, launched in Europe this week, promises to deliver breaking news directly to customers through streamed video, video clips, and picture bulletins on 3G phones. News providers include ITN in the U.K., N24 in Germany, Rai News in Italy, and El Mundo in Spain. Vodafone is the world’s largest mobile operator with 150 million customers.
The advantage of Qualcomm’s MediaFLO network (at 700 Mhz) and Crown Castle’s DVB-H (at 1.6 GHZ) is that it doesn’t utilize cell phone channels. In addition, a million simultaneous streams are not required to feed a city.
Related DailyWireless articles include Mobile TV Expands, Mobilized Satellite TV, Satellite TV on a cell phone, Blast from XM, Mobile Satellite Access and Live & Die in MPEG-LA.
