Four of the U.K’s mobile network operators have started technical trials of TDtv, the mobile TV variant developed by IPWireless. Their TD-CDMA technology is based on existing 3GPP specifications and allows operators to use their idle TDD spectrum.

3UK, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone will test the system in the Bristol area using 12 of Orange’s cell sites, delivering TD-CDMA-3GPP Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services (MBMS) to people issued with special compact flash cards that plug into a Dell PDA.

The trial is expected to provide valuable insights for mobile operators into the potential of using their existing spectrum and infrastructure to deliver mobile television and other multimedia services.

The flash card uses silicon that IPWireless already uses in its TD—CDMA equipment. The company is designing devices specifically for implementing TDtv in W-CDMA handsets, and is talking with the majority of 3G handset makers.

The cell sites are said to cover about 60 percent of the Bristol area. The area includes a major motorway, the M4, so that reception of mobile TV at speeds over 110 km/h can be tested, said Jones.

MobiTV, Inc., the international mobile and broadband television services company, is providing the client application, as well as facilitate the mobile content and operational components of the trial.

Operators in the U.K. are already testing the other versions of mobile TV. For instance Telefonica’s O2 unit is trialing DVB-H in the Oxford area in conjunction with Nokia, while BT and Virgin Mobile have trials of the DAB-IP based Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) technology. Satellite network operator BSkyB is trialing the Qualcomm developed and backed MediaFLO system.

IPWireless says TDtv offers operators already offering W-CDMA services significant strategic, performance, and economic advantages over the competing mobile TV solutions since it allows such providers to utilize existing spectrum and infrastructure.

Proponets of COFDM systems, like MediaFLO and DVB-H, say their approach can deliver more capacity while off-loading the payload from cellular networks.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Wednesday, October 11th, 2006 at 2:09 am.