News of Eutelsat and SES Global’s decision to jointly develop a new mobile broadcasting system for Europe is good news for other players such as Alcatel, which is hoping to be a key technology vendor in the mobile-TV space.

SES and Eutelsat unveiled plans Oct. 30 to invest 130 million euros ($165.3 million) to develop a mobile broadcasting satellite service for Europe. The joint venture will develop and operate a commercial S-band payload that will allow the first delivery of mobile multimedia broadcast services directly to mobile devices.

"Satellite services using S-band frequencies can make a vital contribution to the overall success of the mobile broadcasting market while the design of the S-band payload is also fully suited for two-way communications," Giuliano Berretta, chairman and CEO of Eutelsat, said in a statement. "By adding this new payload to a platform using our traditional set of Ku-band and C-band frequencies it has also been possible to put in place an efficient and cost-effective solution for entering a new frequency band."

The S-band payload will be placed on the W2A satellite, being built by Alcatel Alenia Space. W2A was ordered by Eutelsat in September and is scheduled for launch in 2009.

"The combination of the commercial trends and credibility of both SES Global and Eutelsat is a key success factor for mobile TV in S-band," Olivier Coste, president of Alcatel Mobile Broadcast Activities, told Satellite News. "They both have excellent relationships with pay-TV operators and broadcasters in many countries. The fact they are now committed to develop a mobile TV S-band solution over Europe, with a satellite which will cover all of the main European territories, is of great support for the development of the mobile TV project in S-band."

Alcatel has been investing heavily in the development of an S-band solution. "What we are doing is developing the elements relevant to Alcatel," Coste said. "So you have the satellite, the terrestrial network, a terrestrial solution to be deployed over the 3G networks of the operators and the overall system architecture, and we propose to be the system integrator of the solution. Beyond that, we are also developing partnerships with chipset manufacturers and terminal vendors in order to have an end-to-end solution available for our customers."

Alcatel’s terrestrial equipment will be available prior to the launch of W2A, Coste said. "By the end of next year, the technical solution will be available to enable a deployment of the terrestrial networks as of the end of 2007," he said. "The service providers may open a commercial service to consumers in S-band in urban areas by the middle of 2008."

With a number of operators having launched trials in [digital video broadcasting for handheld (DVB-H)] and many already offering services via 3G, it is difficult to say what impact satellite will have in the mobile broadcasting arena. Coste, however, is upbeat.

"We are very confident for several reasons, the first reason being that DVB-H is based on UHF frequencies, and the availability of UHF frequencies is dependent to a certain extent on the analog switchover, which will take place in most European countries [even if] exact timing is still to be confirmed," he said. "The second element is that the hybrid solution brings a satellite coverage, which is much cheaper than any terrestrial solution to provide full terrestrial coverage nationwide. This is clearly a key feature for consumers."

Comparing Satellite Costs

Another company taking an especially keen interest in the Eutelsat/SES agreement is Ondas Media, a satellite-based provider of multilingual radio, video and other data and telematics services primarily to vehicles and hand-held mobile devices.

John Yates, Ondas Media’s vice president of network engineering, questions the approach that SES/Eutelsat is taking. "A pan-European, mobile multi-media broadcast system can be based on either a GEO- or HEO-satellite constellation, but the implementation and economics of these two approaches are substantially different. The recent announcement by SES and Eutelsat will have sent a strong signal from two experienced satellite operators that a geostationary platform offers an effective satellite component to a European mobile multimedia system," he said. "However, Ondas has conducted extensive studies comparing the merits of GEO- and HEO-based systems for the delivery of mobile multimedia in Europe and finds that the economic model of the GEO-based solution is just not as effective as a HEO-based system."

Ondas estimates that the cost of implementing a terrestrial infrastructure to complement a GEO-based European mobile multimedia system would be 200 million to 300 million euros ($255.6 to $383.4 million) per country, compared to a cost of 100 million euros ($127.8 million) to cover all of Europe with a HEO-based system, Yates said.

"One can clearly see that, from an investor’s point of view, the GEO-based solution may initially be seen as a palatable, low-cost entry into the mobile multi-media broadcast business. However, when one considers the cost of implementing a complementary terrestrial repeater network throughout Europe, the overall project quickly escalates with each country, and after two or three countries, the cost becomes significantly more expensive than a HEO-based system."

Contact: Helen Simpson, Alcatel, e-mail: [email protected]; Melanie Betts, Grapevine PR (for Ondas Media), e- mail: [email protected]