The international camp
Many global telecom operators and broadcasters are vigorously looking at venturing into the mobile TV space. Verizon Wireless has recently enabled its customers in Detroit to watch broadcast-quality television on selected handsets. With V CAST mobile TV on the Verizon Wireless phones, customers of different age and interest can watch sports events, breaking news, and their favorite TV shows. The service offers live shows and mobile television content from many of the best-known entertainment brands. The service comes with parental control features.

V CAST Mobile TV is unlike any other mobile television service available right now. It's like watching TV at home with a range of channels offering great shows and events to choose from.

Alcatel-Lucent and Italian broadcaster RAI recently announced the launch of a mobile TV network trial that will use a combination of satellite and terrestrial communications. The trial, which will take place in Torino, will use 3 Italia's cellular sites for indoor coverage. The terrestrial TV and broadcast services of RAI will be used for outdoor and car coverage. Alcatel-Lucent will offer the mobile-TV telecom kit and the integration services. According to Alcatel-Lucent, the fusion technology improves the quality and extends the accessibility of the service, which has till now been disappointing across Europe and North America.

The hybrid-satellite alternative is said to be one of the better tools to get uniform spectrum allocation, which is accessible across Europe in the same band, so there is significance in using hybrid-satellite for mobile TV. The S-Band spectrum is available all over Europe and gives operators the benefit of being able to offer mobile satellite services without exclusive local modifications. A majority of the other available spectrum bands will not recommend this kind of common, continentwide deployment. Alcatel-Lucent has tested its satellite-hybrid technology with Telefonica in Spain, and it is currently running similar tests with Vodafone in France. It plans to conduct trials next year with ICO in the US.

Siano Mobile Silicon has signed an alliance agreement with CMB Satellite and Huaqi to provide advanced solutions for China's CMMB mobile TV services, starting from the 2008 Olympics. CMMB is the technology developed in China as the main dais for delivering TV services to mobile devices. The CMMB network will use both satellite and terrestrial signals to obtain effective coverage, both in heavily populated cities as well as in scarcely populated rural areas.

For the successful launch of CMMB, it is crucial that consumers are able to receive high quality signal, both indoors and out, using low power and low-priced handheld devices. As the global mobile TV market grows, China can showcase itself as the next economic powerhouse. Recently, the Media Development Authority of Singapore has decided to issue four licenses to companies that are ready to offer mobile TV in the later half of the year.