UK operator Orange has announced plans for a mobile TV trial with the new TDtv technology, recently proposed by IP Wireless (and backed by Sprint). This is a 3G technology using the Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Standard (MBMS), which has the benefit of using spectrum and infrastructure already owned by the operator.
“The trials are due to start in mid-2006, and will initially use PDAs with SD card wireless modems.” Orange announced a 3G mobile TV service last year with MobiTV, so maybe this could be classified as an upgrade: the TDtv service offers “broadcast up to 50 TV channels for mobile phone screens or 16 for PDA -sized displays”.
It looks like the UK will be a miniature world, with every possible mobile TV standard in play. Just waiting for Qualcomm to make an announcement…
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