News
10/11/2009
A solution for Broadcast mobile TV & Mobile broadband
Broadcast Mobile TV & Mobile Broadband via Satellite in Europe
In its latest report on Hybrid Networks, Maxime Baudry, Project Leader, says that “hybrid satellite/mobile networks are networks that enable the deployment of a range of services – the most promising being those tied to the mobile Internet and to mobile TV”. Actually the context appears quite positive:
• After the spectrum allocations in the United States a few years back, the EU awarded two pan-European licences in the S-band this year: one to operator Solaris Mobile, which is the fruit of a joint venture between Eutelsat and SES Global – two of the globe’s four major satellite operators – and one to Inmarsat, another industry heavyweight;
• Via the launch of hybrid services, satellite operators hope to capitalise on the telecommunications sector’s future growth markets, and to position themselves as a key complement to terrestrial network players, and even as competitors when possible.
Satellite operators preparing for the exponential growth of the mobile Internet…
Around the world, and especially in developed countries, the fact that users are replacing their existing handsets with smartphones, i.e. high end phones that enable access to multimedia mobile services, is helping to spur mobile Internet take-up. According to Cisco, a smartphone generates more IP traffic than 30 standard mobile phones, while a PC card generates more traffic than 450 standard cellular phones.
The emergence of flat rates, coupled with the expanded coverage of mobile networks and new mobile devices that deliver outstanding performance levels, does appear to point to a stunning degree of growth for the mobile Internet in the coming years.
Moreover, in some parts of the world where a robust terrestrial broadband infrastructure is lacking, notably Eastern Europe, appear to be banking on these new technologies to catch up, as revealed by the substantial development of 3G/3.5G via USB keys integrated into PCs.
…and mobile TV
In Europe, mobile TV was launched in Italy in 2006 just before the World Cup in Germany. In the same vein, Austria and Switzerland, which were the host countries for the European Football Championships in 2008, rolled out their offers just before the event began.
• In Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands, mobile TV services have been launched at mobile telephony operators’ initiative. The rate of coverage for the services therefore depends on the operator’s network, while the packages on offer and prices charge vary from operator to operator. Customers do have to pay for the services, which are generally composed of a basic offer that can be upgraded to a premium package that includes specialty channels, adult programming, sports (game highlights, weekly programmes, live matches) and on-demand content. Depending on the type of programme, pricing will be per-day, per-week or per month.
• In Austria, the regulator awarded a broadcast mobile television licence to French network operator TDF’s Hungarian subsidiary, Media Broadcast, which then established agreements with mobile operators Orange, A1 and 3, all of which also distribute an offer.
• In Finland and Hungary, DVB-H services were deployed by network operators Digita and Antenna Hungaria (both of which are TDF subsidiaries), which led to the launch of free-to-air services offering an only small selection of channels.
• Elsewhere in Europe, trials have been completed in different parts of the country on a system using the DVB-H standard, or are still underway.
The award of two pan-European licences will enable the development of these services in the near future
After issuing a call for submissions in 2008, in April of this year the European Commission announced that it had awarded two pan-European S-band (2 GHz) licences of 30 MHz each: 15 MHz Earth-to-space and 15 MHz space-to-Earth.
The companies tat were awarded a licence, Solaris Mobile (a joint venture between Eutelsat and SES Astra) and Inmarsat, must satisfy the following obligations:
• cover 60% of the EU with the first commercial rollouts;
• make services available to at least 50% of the EU-27 population;
• cover the entire European Union by 2015.
MSS-CGC/DVB-SH systems present significant advantages in terms of coverage and cost
Modelling terrestrial network rollouts reveals that satellite is an economical solution for ensuring complementary coverage for terrestrial mobile networks. It appears that mobile operators will have trouble deploying their high-speed infrastructure beyond the 90% of the population that is already covered.
Even if they pool their efforts, which is the most likely scenario, they will probably be unable to provide coverage
effectively to the remaining 3% to 5% of the population, which opens up a niche market for satellite technology.
