Alcatel behind attempts to create Europe’s first satellite mobile TV system; will use DVB-H S-band with terrestrial repeaters

Alcatel Mobile Broadcast (AMB), the new internal Alcatel venture dedicated to mobile TV, is behind plans to launch a terrestrial broadcast network using DVB-H in S-band, rather than L-band (1452-1477 MHz) or the especially scarce UHF frequencies (470-838 MHz). Terrestrial network infrastructure will then be complemented by a pan-European geostationary satellite (yet to be launched) that will provide direct-to-phone S-band transmission of live mobile television services.

With the terrestrial S-band DVB-H networks rolling out in urban regions first, the satellite will extend the mobile TV services in the European markets covered. According to Alcatel Mobile Broadcast it will provide the kind of near-ubiquity consumers have come to expect with their mobile telephony/data services.  Alcatel expects to deliver DVB-H S-band terrestrial repeaters by Christmas 2007 and it says the proposed satellite could be operational two years later.

This represents the first attempt to introduce satellite-based TV to mobile phones outside South Korea, where TU Media Corp. provides a Pay TV service to over 300,000 subscribers via satellite using S-band. (Japan’s MobaHO! also operates a mobile TV service from the same satellite as TU Media Corp., the MBSAT at 144 degrees east, but is still only available on PDA-style devices, PCs with special tuner cards and in-car receivers).

Once the proposed European satellite becomes operational, the live TV feeds delivered into the local terrestrial S-band transmitters will be received off the satellite, at which point they start to act as repeaters rather than transmitters.

In markets where a terrestrial S-band network has not been deployed, repeaters will still be required with the satellite system to ensure strong indoor reception in urban areas, where tall buildings can disrupt satellite coverage. Rural areas are unlikely to be targeted for terrestrial mobile TV broadcast networks by 2007 and they will benefit most when the proposed satellite 'lights up', as they will receive TV signals for the first time.

The Alcatel Mobile Broadcast venture, if successful, will provide Europe's current and would-be mobile TV service providers yet another route to market. Up to now, most commercial mobile TV services are using cellular networks (primarily 3G) but it is widely acknowledged, even by the cellular industry, that 3G networks cannot cope with mass-market demand for live TV.

Everyone is looking for the best way to deliver television to handhelds using broadcast infrastructure and the most viable options to date are DVB-H in L-band (since this spectrum is likely to be available for commercial launches timed around 2007-08) or the two variants of DAB: DAB-IP and T-DMB (Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting). Alcatel has come to the conclusion that none of these are suitable for a project that is designed from the outset to be pan-European.

Herbert Mittermayr, vice president of marketing at Alcatel Mobile Broadcast, comments: "DVB-H is a good standard but we believe that UHF as a frequency has big, big question marks against it because it will not be available in the UK before 2010-12, and there are scarcity problems in Germany, Italy and France.

“It does not provide a good way to deliver mass market services across the continent or a nation. UHF has its advantages from a radio performance perspective but it is simply not available. A Ferrari is a good car but it is not available to everyone. Everyone is used to using mobile phones wherever they are and the same should apply to mobile television and S-band is available across Europe."

Mittermayr says S-band offers significant advantages of its own when it comes to network economics. Most important of these is that S-band and 3G frequencies are adjacent to each other - with S-band covering 2.2GHz and UMTS available in 2.1GHz. "That means you can use exactly the same network, radio and site planning as is used for 3G, so that as an operator, all you need to do is put repeaters into existing 3G sites, using the existing towers and cabling. You don't need to apply to build new tower sites and that makes the network very cost-efficient."