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Preethi J.

POCKET ENTERTAINMENT

A MOBILE TV AT HAND

Bangalore , March 24

Mobile TV may take off before Internet TV in India, if one goes by what Nortel India has to say.

The idiot box is undergoing a transformation. First it was TV over the Internet, known as IPTV. And now, it is getting integrated with the ubiquitous mobile to bring live entertainment right into your pocket! TV-on-your-mobile allows you to catch up on your favourite TV serials/ sports events while on the move.

India's exploding mobile subscriber base, which stands at over 90 million now, will mean faster adoption of mobile TV compared to IPTV, said Mr Malur A. Narayan, Vice-President, Wireless Solutions, Nortel India.

He predicted that the rollout of Mobile TV services by operators would happen within 9 to 12 months. This might be either over WiMAX or 3G networks, he said. WiMAX are networks that will offer wireless broadband to subscribers in the near future. The 3G, or 3rd generation of telecom networks, also bring broadband and consecutively, a bouquet of Internet-based services to mobile users.

The telecom hardware firm has now diversified into entertainment software with the recent launch of its SIP (session initiation protocol, a method of data transfer)-based IMS platform, which can be used for both IPTV and mobile TV. The company is now offering software for services such as mobile-to-TV picture sharing, on-screen instant messaging and presence, and click-to-call functionality. It is in talks with wire-line broadband Internet service providers such as Reliance, Tata and Bharti Telecom for its IPTV offering in India.

Mr Narayan also said that Nortel was expecting IPTV to take off in North America due to the region's high broadband penetration. The company would promote mobile TV in Europe and Asia.

Mr Kanwar Chadha, Founder and Member of Board of Directors, SiRF Technology, another Indian player in the mobile TV market, said Mobile TV would find immediate adoption in India as "we are an entertainment-loving country." Highlights of cricket, and snippets of the goals in a football match were the examples he quoted as being of interest to mobile TV users. According to various analysts, the market for Mobile TV will be $30 billion by the end of the decade.

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