Mobile TV and Video Services Could Overload 3G Networks

Mobile TV and video services - viewed by operators as a means to drive 3G take-up and increase average revenue per user (ARPU) - could overwhelm 3G networks in the next two years, according to the new Sound Partners report.

With under-utilised 3G networks, some mobile operators are offering streamed TV and video content at highly attractive prices. For example, Vodafone Germany is offering free access to fourteen mobile TV channels to the end of 2005 to encourage consumers to adopt and use the services. However, video streaming generates substantial network traffic and 3G has limited capacity to support such services, according to report co-author Dr Alastair Brydon. "Our modeling reveals that the capacity of a typical W-CDMA network could be exceeded as soon as 2007, for example if 40% of 3G users take up mobile TV and video services and consume eight minutes of video per day."

The widespread availability of 3G networks and handsets will ensure that these carry the vast majority of mobile TV and video services for the next five years. However, the heavy data consumption of these services demands careful management of service usage, pricing and technology evolution.

"Broadcasting technology will be essential to support the full range of mobile TV and video usage scenarios across the mass market," says co-author Dr Mark Heath, "This will be the only realistic means of supporting peaks in demand, such as major news stories or events that stimulate intense demand for TV content. It will also enable widespread support of extended periods of mobile TV viewing, for example as an additional TV in the home."

However, 3G itself might provide the most attractive broadcast solution for mobile operators, using the little known MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Standard) feature, developed within the 3GPP/3GPP2 Release 6 standards for W-CDMA and CDMA2000, which could be available from 2007. "MBMS is based on relatively small changes to the existing 3G standard," says Mark Heath. "It does not require additional spectrum or licensing and coverage will be identical to conventional 3G networks. Perhaps most importantly, MBMS potentially enables mobile operators to continue to control the mobile TV and video market." However, MBMS does require operators to set aside capacity that could otherwise be used for point-to-point voice or data services, and can only be justified if mobile operators can attract mainstream audiences to a small number of broadcasting channels.

Dedicated broadcasting technologies, such as DVB-H, DMB and MediaFLO, are vying to be deployed for the broadcasting of large numbers of TV channels to mobile devices and could become competitive or complementary solutions to 3G and MBMS. However, mobile operators may be unable to exert the same control over DVB-H, DMB or MediaFLO services as they can over 3G and MBMS. All of them face uncertainties and there is a risk that no single dominant standard will materialise, with different technologies being deployed in different countries."

Posted to the site on 19th September 2005