Smart Wi-Fi: UMA expands to HDTV

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

UMA expands to HDTV

Building on their 3G announcement from September, Orange has added a new HDTV service to their Unik lineup.

The service is designed to take advantage of the high-speed, low latency access available with Wi-Fi via Unik.

According to Roaul Roverato, executive vice president in charge of the new growth businesses division of Orange:

“Our proximity to the customer and our understanding of their expectations means we are able to react more quickly to their changing needs. For example in France, 40% of mobile TV usage is enjoyed at home* and this trend is growing, with over 58% of customers accessing video on demand (VoD) services and 32% watching live TV when at home** . By providing better handsets with bigger screens, seamless network access and exciting, high-quality content, Orange is shaping the future of mobile TV.”

I think it’s amazing they find 40% of mobile TV usage is at home, where people already have Wi-Fi coverage. Highlighting once again that Wi-Fi is a perfect offload opportunity.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...: I run a site for HDTV Reviews and I am curious how much bandwidth is available on the UMA via WiFi? Is there enough for true 1080p HDTV?; 1:18 AM
Anonymous said...: Orange EVP says, " In France, 40% of mobile TV usage is enjoyed at home ..**

Now, this is a real surprise. Looks like in France, Dad hogs the big TV, and mom need to be with him, so she watches the soap opera on the mobile handset instead !!

Also notice the "large screen" comment.; 1:23 AM
Steve said...: Good question. The bandwidth available on UMA is typically the bandwidth of the broadband connection the Wi-Fi is connected too. If you have a 3 meg DSL connection, that's one of the first bottlenecks.

But frankly I'm not sure what picture resolution the Orange service is delivering. This is for a mobile phone, either the Sony Ericsson g705 or LG Secret KF 757. I don't know if the screens on those devices will support a 1080p image.

Perhaps someone with the service can jump in.; 7:25 AM
Anonymous said...: What is the role of UMA in the delivery of HDTV to the WiFi enabled Mobile Handset?; 5:31 PM
Steve said...: UMA provides a cheaper, faster connection for delivering multimedia mobile data services.

Orange could simply use the 3G network, but with a high speed Wi-Fi connection in the home, Orange is able to use UMA to offload the macro network and deliver the HDTV service over the fixed broadband.

Note this is different than using Wi-Fi simply to connect to an Internet (or Web 2.0) service like YouTube. Orange’s HDTV service lives in their mobile core network. The handset can access that service either over the 3G network or through a UMA pipe over Wi-Fi.

"Offload" is likely to become a key trend for mobile operators in 2009.; 9:15 AM
Anonymous said...: ^ yes Unique/Unik just connects the handset to the Orange Broadband LIVEBOX ( router ) and you connect to Orange's servers via internet/wi-fi, this saves Orange a massive amount of money as multi 2MBit connections to cell towers dont come cheap, or the rates for data transfer back to O servers

I have Blackberry Pearl & use Livebox at home for UMA/Unique calls

AWESOME product, pity about customer care or support though.....; 3:06 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 3:07 PM