O2, Orange, Vodafone To Trial New Mobile Broadcast System

22nd Jun 2010 08:35

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Mobile operators O2, Orange and Vodafone Group PLC (VOD.LN) said Tuesday they will jointly trial a new mobile broadcast system capable of delivering data intensive services such as mobile television in a more efficient way. The pilot, which will run for three months starting in October in central London and Slough, will assess how mobile broadcast services can be deployed using shared network infrastructure. Integrated Mobile Broadcast is a standardised third generation partnership project, or 3GPP, technology recently endorsed by the GSM Association. As well as offering broadcast services to customers, it can seamlessly link with traditional unicast or on-demand services delivered over 3G. The mobile operators are exploring using the IMB wireless technology within a little used tranche of 3G spectrum called Time Division Duplex spectrum. This spectrum already forms part of the 3G licences held by many European mobile operators, but has remained largely unused because of a lack of appropriate technology. Currently, 3G TDD spectrum is available to over 150 operators across 60 countries covering more than half a billion subscribers. O2 is a division of Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF) and Orange is a division of France Telecom (FTE). -By Lilly Vitorovich, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-0-207 842 9290; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 22, 2010 03:35 ET (07:35 GMT)