Vodafone, O2 and Orange have announced they are to team up to test a new mobile TV broadcast service later this year.
The mobile network operators will trial the new broadcast technology called ‘Integrated Mobile Broadcast’ (IMB) in London and Slough for three months, starting in October.
The companies said IMB will be able to handle “data intensive services”, including live video streaming to mobile phones over a wireless 3G signal, and will deliver better picture quality compared to TV services currently streamed over existing 3G networks.
Mobile TV services are currently offered by all UK mobile operators on some high-end smartphones, but their 3G networks can easily become congested, affecting other mobile services such as standard phone calls.
With IMB technology, however, an unused part of the 3G signal not designed to carry mobile calls is instead used exclusively for services including live video streaming .
Luke Ibbetson, head of technology research and development at Vodafone, said: “With the strong growth of data traffic on our 3G networks and the mobile industry’s recent support of this high performance broadcast technology, the time is right to move forward with an IMB initiative.”
“By joining our peers in this UK pilot, we expect to be able to explore the potential of delivering broadcast services across available 3G spectrum.”
Gavin Franks, head of new business development at O2, added: “Based on the results of the pilot, we anticipate being able to offer our consumers through our networks a range of innovative new broadcast services such as mobile TV and intelligent broadcasting that will lead to an enhanced user experience.”
