Qualcomm Makes Asian Strike in Mobile TV War

March 15, 2007 - source: BWCS

Taiwan TV company TTV has said it plans to work with China Network Systems on testing Qualcomm's mobile TV technology. According to the two companies, the trials will involve four live channels of China Network's content and three live channels of TTV content. The technical tests are designed to allow China Network and TTV to evaluate the Qualcomm system. Meanwhile, the US chip-maker hopes to use the trials to increase interest in its mobile TV systems across Asia.

The Taiwan trial could prove a vital shop-window for Qualcomm's MediaFlo system which is going head-to-head with the Nokia and Sony-Ericsson-backed Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld (DVB-H) standard and the Japanese Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting - Terrestrial system.

The majority of mobile infrastructure in Taiwan is of the European variety supplied by Nokia and Ericsson, which it has been assumed will favour the use of DVB-H technology for mobile TV in the country. However, companies also use Japanese network technology, and Taiwanese consumers often prefer Japanese products over others due to similarities in taste.

Qualcomm believes that MediaFlo's advantage is that it allows operators to offer low-cost downloadable content such as songs, video clips and other multimedia to their customers. MediaFlo is already winning hearts and minds in the US where both AT&T's Cingular division and Verizon Wireless have committed to it.