Reliance Jio Infocomm, the billionaire Mukesh Ambani promoted 4G telecom venture of Reliance Industries, is set to invest in LTE Broadcast technology to boost its video offerings, said a report by GSA.
The other global telecom operators that are investing in LTE Broadcast include AT&T, Verizon Wireless, EE, Three, KPN, Orange, Vodafone, Meo, Etisalat, SingTel, China Mobile, China Telecom, Smart and Telstra.
Reliance Jio Infocomm, the only pan-India 4G service provider, is in the process of rolling out 4G LTE services on both TD-LTE and FD-LTE technology. The company recently said its 4G services would be available in 2015.
Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel and Aircel are in the process of expanding TD-LTE technology based 4G services in select parts of India.
The telecom operator list shared by GSA indicates that several 4G service providers are yet to commit investments in LTE Broadcast that can be utilized for off-peak capacity to deliver new service offerings including rich media caching, or managed software updates including applications updates.
Alan Hadden, president of GSA, said: “LTE Broadcast enables innovative and profitable business opportunities for mobile network operators.”
LTE Broadcast enabled by evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS) technology allows telecom operators to manage networks more efficiently by multicasting content sought by multiple subscribers including live TV broadcasts, or tailored content for sporting events in stadiums or other venues.
GSA said at least 16 mobile network operators, working together with LTE systems providers and broadcast content owners, are currently deploying or trialing LTE Broadcast technology in Australia, China, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, UAE, UK and the USA.
LTE Broadcast supports all specified bandwidths and formats of LTE, including FDD and TDD modes and LTE-Advanced carrier aggregation.
KT in South Korea was the first telecom operator in the world to launch LTE Broadcast commercially in January 2014.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com