‘3′ starts MBMS trials

MBMS is a different approach to Mobile TV combining both broadcast and unicast shows (though multicast is more accurate). It also gives consumers opportunity to interact by voting, sending messages, accessing downloads of related content and special promotions from advertisers.

“MBMS as part of the 3G evolution is an attractive technology not only because of its flexibility and efficiency, but because it’s quick and easy to deploy and leverages existing infrastructure,” said Kursten Leins, Strategic Marketing Manager - Multimedia, Ericsson. “MBMS allows an unlimited number of users to watch the same mobile TV program at the same time in the same area, as well as enabling valuable user interaction with advertisements, campaigns and programs.”

“3 pioneered 3G in Australia, so it was a great opportunity to see the country’s first MBMS technology trial run on Australia’s first 3G network,” Leins added. Since the MBMS signal can be pin pointed to specific geographies, it’s also possible to broadcast different mobile TV programs to different areas, giving a locally-specific customer experience and also providing highly targeted mobile advertising opportunities.

“We are very happy with the trial - the technology worked well and apart from delivering a good customer experience, it’s extremely efficient in terms of network traffic and capacity, and provides new levels of customer involvement with their programs,” said Michael Young, Director Technology & Services, 3 Australia.

The technical trial was held in 3’s Sydney Head office over 6 weeks and run by Ericsson who developed the trial system. Using four specially designed prototype handsets, Ericsson also installed equipment to simulate the content and broadcast servers on a section of 3’s network so the customer and network experience could be seen.