Ericsson, MTS and Qualcomm in live LTE Broadcast trial
Ericsson, Russian telco Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) and Qualcomm Technologies have successfully completed their first live tests of LTE Broadcast. The trial took place at MTS’ office in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, while video content was distributed from Aachen, Germany, using Ericsson’s LTE Broadcast solution, which shows the feasibility of a fully distributed operator solution. Pre-configured LTE Broadcast-enabled mobile devices powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor with an integrated X10 LTE modem.
LTE Broadcast delivers a new video experience, offering high quality broadcast video over LTE networks and enabling new video services, while helping service providers to optimise network resources and available spectrum and offload networks. The service uses Single Frequency Network technology, such as DVB-T, to distribute the signal to an unlimited number of recipients. Users only need an LTE Broadcast app installed on their devices in order to access the service.
During the test, the devices received different video feeds. The necessary features were enabled on on the trial devices featuring the Snapdragon 810 processor with X10 LTE, which features Qualcomm Technologies’ LTE Broadcast solution for the evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS). The solution featured the chipset, broadcast middleware, multimedia services, and a proven interface for LTE Broadcast application development. Additionally, the X10 LTE modem supports up to 450 Mbps download speed even in intensive use cases like 4K video streaming.
Andrei Ushatskiy, MTS Vice President, Technology and IT, said, “The delivery of broadcast entertainment is set to enter a new era in Russia and MTS intends to lead this process through our enhanced LTE Broadcast technology. Consumers want to be able to watch premium high-quality content, such as live sporting events, when and where they wish and MTS will provide the best mobile solution to this need.”
The capability and the flexibility enabled by LTE Broadcast is a powerful tool for operators wishing to leverage the impact and attraction of media content to provide new services and business opportunities in the digital mobile era. According to the latest Ericsson ConsumerLab report, 50 percent of Russian consumers watch TV and video on their smartphones, and 37 percent are ready to pay for HD-quality video.
Jeff Travers, Head of Customer Unit MTS, Ericsson Northern Europe and Central Asia, says: “With video traffic expected to grow by about 60 percent annually until the end of 2020, operators are under increasing pressure to enable their subscribers to enjoy a high-quality video experience anytime, anywhere, while still managing network efficiency and costs. LTE Broadcast is gaining momentum as a perfect method for optimizing LTE spectrum and network resources, offering new revenue models for content delivery. This first test in Russia is an important milestone for the national mobile telecommunications sector as it marks the robustness of LTE technology for transformation of TV industry in the country”.
Enrico Salvatori, senior vice president & president, Qualcomm Europe, said, “Qualcomm Technologies powered the world’s first commercial launch of LTE Broadcast in 2014. As leading mobile operators worldwide start to embrace this technology, we believe further adoption of LTE Broadcast in Russia will be instrumental in driving new services and applications to a vast majority of users, and we are very happy to contribute to the MTS’s and Ericsson’s successful trial using the Snapdragon 810 procesor with X10 LTE.”
LTE Broadcast is a single-frequency network (SFN) in broadcast mode that is part of the series of 3GPP LTE standards known as evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS). It extends existing LTE/Evolved Packet Core (EPC) systems with an efficient point-to-multipoint (PMP) distribution feature. Ericsson LTE Broadcast supports a range of use cases: live streaming of video for highdemand content such as live sports, breaking news, most popular media delivery, e.g.popular TV show, video, music and e-printing, top OTT content, software updates and emergency broadcasting.