C2Mmonthly

Technology advances in the world of wireless continue unabated and one of the key dynamics this year has been the increased amount of bandwidth available over mobile networks. But with the advent of LTE and WiMAX today’s offerings will appear very small potatoes indeed.

Streaming versus broadcast; DVB-H versus MediaFLO; subscription versus free to air. Yes, the mobile TV and video industry does indeed like a battle and especially one where there are two protagonists locking horns in what appears to be a winner take all battle. What may be soon added to this list is LTE versus WiMAX. That is to say, in terms of the two new candidate technologies for wireless broadband, both of which are well capable of supporting high quality mobile video services. So what’s behind the battle and which technology looks likelier to win? Well, the first part of that is easier to answer than the second in fact he key could well be co-existence as both may indeed flourish.

Very simply, LTE is the logical extension of the GSM communications networks that virtually everyone in Europe is connected to and the other 3G telecoms networks, such as CDMA etc, used in other parts of the world. It is otherwise known as 3GPP and as that name suggests, its coverage will be as widespread as the 3G networks now. The companies behind LTE, the traditional mobile telecoms firms , claim that once LTE comes on-stream—and it may well be sometime next decade—users can expected data to be transmitted to handsets at up 100 Mbits/sec thus making mobile video, that is very high quality video, a distinct reality. WiMAX on the other hand is much closer to commercial rollout and is essentially a replacement technology for existing telecommunications infrastructures, both fixed and mobile, such as DSL and cable. Thus, in very crude terms WiMAX gives you cable TV in your handset.

Key factors about WiMAX
WiMAX networks are designed to cover areas of around 6 miles in radius from a base station (i.e. a town or city). It offers security and quality of service, a vital component for video services, and indeed WiMAX networks are designed to have traffic prioritisation. Data rates are in the 40 Mbits/sec area (compare that with LTE) but WiMAX networks will be available a lot sooner and, to be honest, such rates will easily support a satisfactory mobile video experience. Current mobile WiMAX supports streaming video to be broadcast even at speeds of over 70 MPH such as those experienced on a train or coach and the in-building penetration of current mobile wireless is good, a valuable asset given that trends show that in-house and in-building figure highly for mobile TV and video consumption. But so much for theory, what about practice? Well right now there’s a lot of interest in WiMAX in Asia and one key trial stands out right now. Taiwan's leading WiMAX operator, Global Mobile Corporation is partnering with Next Wave Wireless in a technology collaboration to make end-to-end mobile WiMAX-based video solutions a reality for the global market.

The two organisations have set up a WiMAX field trial deployed in Taipei and the demonstration network will aim to provide test subjects a robust, personalised next-generation mobile TV and multimedia services. As part of the trial, Global Mobile has implemented an end-to-end system based on NextWave’s new V5 base WiMAX transceiver station and ASN gateway platform, providing both Business and Operational Support Systems (BSS/OSS) and a migration path that supports Wave 2 WiMAX. The network supports a range of devices based on NextWave's integrated WiMAX chipsets and software provided by PacketVideo (PV), a NextWave Wireless subsidiary. These include mobile handsets and personal media players, mobile Internet devices and portable navigation devices.

Hot competition
Even though the WiMAX market is relatively immature there exists already competition at essential equipment level that is bringing down the average selling price of handsets. This phenomenon has been tracked by ABI Research. Observed principal analyst Philip Solis, “Even as the mobile WiMAX chipset market has barely gotten its feet wet, chipset ASPs are declining rapidly due to heavy competition and greater integration in designs. Prices for the baseband and RF components of the chipset have come down from the $35 range a few years ago to below $25, and will drop below $10 in 2011. These falling WiMAX chipset prices are critical for inclusion of the technology in smaller mobile devices."

But before anyone think that it is plain sailing for WiMAX, there are some technical challenges that need to be addressed. A recent report by Gartner analyst Phillip Redman, albeit to business users, cautioned that there was still some way to go for the networks and the devices to be able to support a genuine class of service. Furthermore, in general, there will exist the challenge for WiMAX operators to guarantee network backhaul operations that satisfy agreed service level agreements, provide the required high capacity, efficiently manage allocated spectrum and maintain a low cost per connection. Otherwise this could kill stone dead WiMAX mobile video - who’d pay for an expensive, badly working service?

The fact remains though that 2008 has been the year when a lot of firms have shown their commitment to WiMAX as the mobile broadband technology of choice. There’s a lot of work to do to make it work but by this time next year WiMAX mobile video could well be a reality.