Qualcomm Inc (QCOM)

[khemara_qc]

Mobile TV defined

http://rcrnews.com/page.cms?pageId=223

ATSC—Advanced Television Systems Committee. The technology is used in the United States to broadcast High-Definition TV (HDTV). Those in the industry agree the technology is not suited for battery-powered portable devices like mobile phones.

DMB—Digital Multimedia Broadcasting. DMB was developed in South Korea and is primarily driven by satellite broadcasts. However, the technology can also support a terrestrial component. LG Electronics Co. Ltd. supports the technology and is working to globally promote it.


DVB-H—Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds. The technology is based on the DVB standard, developed by the DVB Project, which can be modified to support satellite, cable and terrestrial digital TV networks. DVB technology is primarily used for digital TV services in Europe. The handheld version of the standard supports 24-30 frames per second. MmO2, Vodafone, Broadcast Australia subsidiary The Bridge Networks and Crown Castle in the United States are trialing DVB-H. Nokia Corp. has promised to sell DVB-H mobile phones by 2006.


Broadcast—Broadcasting is a uni-directional, point-to-multipoint service like standard TV or radio. Users only need a receiver to get the signal and do not need to subscribe to a service or pay a fee.


IPDC—Internet Protocol Datacasting. IP datacasting is a service where digital-content formats, software applications, programming interfaces and multimedia services are combined through IP with digital broadcasting. It is used as a foundation for transmission technologies like DVB.


ISDB-T—Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting using Terrestrial networks. ISDB-T is an open standard used in Japan to transmit digital TV signals. The same system can be used to transmit TV to mobile phones.


MBMS—Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service. This is a multicasting service standardized by the Third Generation Partnership Project. It can essentially broadcast light streams of audio and video through GSM and W-CDMA networks to multiple users. However, it does not support wide areas or large groups of users like other solutions such as DVB-H. The first MBMS-capable phones are expected to be available in 2008.


MediaFLO—Forward Link Only. A technology developed by Qualcomm Inc. to multicast TV to mobile phones using a dedicated network. The service supports transmissions speeds up to 30 frames per second and requires a specialized receiver built into the phone. Qualcomm plans to build an $800 million nationwide MediaFLO network in the United States using 700 MHz spectrum, with commercial services available in 2006.


Mobile Broadcast Services—Nokia, Siemens, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and NEC announced they will develop standards for mobile TV services through the Open Mobile Alliance standards group. The standards will coincide with transmission technologies like DVB-H.


MobiTV—An application developed by privately held Idetic Inc. The software application runs on the Java or BREW platform inside a mobile phone, and streams TV through a carrier’s wireless data network. The application is currently available to download from Sprint PCS and Cingular Wireless and supports up to 10 frames per second.


Multicast—Multicasting is a unidirectional, point-to-multipoint service like broadcasting except that it can verify if a receiver is a paying customer. Thus, users must have a receiver as well as a service account.


Sources: Company and organization documents, interviews.