Print this article

Comment This

Email this article

Globally, telecom carriers are either already streaming or are in the midst of doing so over their 3G networks to the phones which have integrated capacities to handle mediarich infotainment anywhere, anytime. Mobile television is not to be confused with the video clip downloads, which take forever to download few seconds or minutes of a program.

Streamed television is treated as data. Users pay every month and download gigabytes of streamed TV (1 Gb is good for about seven hours of viewing).

By 2007, mobile data revenue is expected to reach 27 percent of revenue from a mobile customer.

ABI predicts, mobile TV market will explode globally with roughly 250 million subscribers spending $27 billion by 2010.

Sprint, Cingular, and Verizon Wireless already offer video content services. NTT DoCoMo in Japan launched the original video messaging service in late 2001 and video content services shortly after. KT Freetel and FK Telecom in Korea initiated video services in 2002. The first in Europe appeared in 2003. Asia definitely leads the US in this area, but probably not Europe. According to ABI Research, almost a million mobile subscribers worldwide pay for live TV and video on demand (VoD).

Technology
Digitally encoded video frames are sent over the network in IP packets. The mobile terminals reassemble the packets, decode them, and display their content.

Due to the limitations of network and mobile devices, the video quality is less than full motion (24 frames per second (fps)) and vary from one to 15 fps. In the worst cases, images break up into blocks of color, and they are never in full color.

It is possible due to the 2.5 and 3G wireless networks that provide the speeds required for streaming. Also, most new phones have color screens, and at least as much processing power as a PCs had 10 years ago.

Market Progress
Though it has the potential to be a mass-market product and will do quite well in the next few years, it will be for niches only.

Streaming video on phones and PDAs has met with mixed reactions. The technology needs lot of fine-tuning in terms of service quality and pricing. The phone networks are still slow to support these data services.

However, mobile carriers are always hunting for additional revenues, especially in the 3G networks. With the mobile market flooded with models that can handle multimedia-live TV is an expected service.

Though the industry has been harping about music- and TV-centric devices and services being a rage, an In-Stat survey says that early adopters lack enthusiasm for these. Fewer than nine percent of respondents were interested in phones with music players, and less than 11 percent were enthused over mobile TV. On the positive side, some respondents were willing to spend a little extra for music or TV phones.

Reality Check
The market sees no value proposition in the service. It is not for watching lengthy movies or even a sitcom. It is for keeping you entertained on the move, with quick short hits. Due of buffering delays, the streamed program is a minute late than the regular TV broadcast and reading the on-screen text is still an issue. Factors like proximity to cell sites, network traffic, and your roaming area also influence the performance.

For those who look to a mobile for multimedia infotainment, live TV will change the user experience. It may not be prime time but, industry reports says, interest is high for a service that so few have actually seen. How many will be willing to pay extra for mobile video, depends will depend on how the carriers continue to roll out their services and networks.

Minu Sirsalewala