Celcom to offer Mobile TV Service

So much of international news, here are some local news for you. Celcom had formalized a joint collaboration with ROK TV, a United Kingdom based mobile entertainment specialist to offer the most powerful mobile TV service to its customers both via GPRS and 3G making Celcom the first telecommunication operator in Malaysia to offer mobile TV via both networks.

Subscribers will be able to enjoy the best quality mobile TV and the best end user experience with just any 3G mobile phone. The service will commence in August 2007. Dato' Sri Shazalli, Chief Executive Officer of Celcom had quoted, "We have achieved great success with our mobile content services. The move is in line with our position as a powerful multimedia content telecommunications leader in the country. We are excited to have ROK TV as our partner in innovation."

They will be able to watch various shows on their mobile phones ranging from breaking news and sports news to cartoon series, rap music and entertainment news just like any other conventional TV. Among the channels that will be available in the initial stage are ABC News Now, Al-Jazeera, ITN, SNTV, Xtreme TV, and Mixcast. More channels will be added to the current 6 later on.

The subscription fees had not been announced yet but it will not be cheap definitely. So are the users willing to pay a premium price for the service to watch on a small screen? Well, I personally doubt so. Again, time will tell.

News was picked from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19325946/

3GPP?

3GPP? Ever heard of that acronym? What does it stand for anyway? 3GPP represents 3rd Generation Partnership Project and it is a collaboration agreement that was established in December 1998 between ETSI, ARIB or TTC, CCSA , ATIS and TTA to bring together a number of telecommunications standards bodies which are known as “Organizational Partners”. The agreement that was formalized by them is called “The 3rd Generation Partnership Project Agreement”.

The scope of 3GPP is to make a globally applicable 3G mobile-phone system specification within the scope of the ITU's IMT-2000 project. 3GPP specifications are based on evolved GSM specifications. 3GPP standardization encompasses Radio, Core Network and Service architecture. The objective of the projects includes setting 3GPP Technical Specifications and Technical Reports for the 3GPP core network and the specifications for the GSM core network.

For more information visit 3GPP.org


PDF format of “The 3rd Generation Partnership Project Agreement”.
PDF format of "3GPP Scope and Objectives".

3G Embedded Modems the Latest Craze in Wireless World!

Anything related to the word "wireless" is getting crazier as 3G vendors started to develop these embedded 3G modems into laptops. As in current time, users will have to pair up their mobile-phone with the laptop to get 3G Internet access. This is not the most effective way as user have to carry both devices at the same time and they need to pair it up each time they want to use the service with either Bluetooth® or infra-red between the laptop and the mobile-phone.

According to Allen Nogee, a principal analyst with market research firm In-Stat/MDR, he said "Laptop vendors are interested in embedded 3G modems because it offers them the potential to differentiate their products and cellular carriers think it may encourage a few more users to rely on their services".

Whether this will turn into reality or not remains a mystery as embedding a 3G modem into a laptop is not cheap and the modems lock customers into specific operators’ services which is an unappealing option to the users. Furthermore, they still have other alternatives such as Wi-Fi which maybe cheaper and faster to use as well. Going for an unlimited 3G data package tends to be expensive and how often would most users work with a cellular data service? Other problems include 3G carriers have been upgrading their networks so rapidly and so often to support faster transmission speeds. For example, it had evolved from GPRS to Edge then to 3G and now 3G with HSDPA technology.

No one knows whether this idea will work or not in the near future. Only time will tell. Laptop vendors are struggling to keep the cost down as users often only look for cheap and useable laptops. Slapping a device at 1/4 of the total laptop price would not help the vendors in any way at all.

The article was summerized from http://www.technewsworld.com/story/50398.html

New Generation of Mobile VoIP?

fring had announced its latest expansion of the newest mVoIP (mobile Voice over Internet Protocol) technology by adding all of Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0 series devices to the compatible list of handsets that can run this free service. Now all fringsters (users that uses fring's services) can choose to communicate for free between fring, Skype®, Google Talk™, MSN® Messenger, twitter™ and hundreds of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) providers on any of the 300 Windows Mobile phones and PDAs in addition to more than 20 Nokia devices over any 3G, GPRS or Wi-Fi Internet connection.

This new technology by fring has brought many of the current Wi-Fi enabled but SIM-less Windows Mobile PDAs from the dead and they now can function as open VoIP phones. Internet access is needed to make VoIP phone calls, hold multiple live chat sessions and also make VoIP enabled PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) phone calls.

This service by fring is totally free and it could be downloaded as a mobile phone application that offers real mobile independence to roam freely between 3 kinds of wireless networks (GPRS, 3G, Wi-Fi) and enjoy the benefits of multiple IM (Instant Messaging) from one single contact list. It will save mobile phone users a big sum of money by utilizing free Wi-Fi Internet access that is almost available everywhere and also help users to utilize their usage for those who subscribes to unlimited 3G Internet access data plans, instead of costly mobile phone calls.

This application is currently in BETA testing stage and compatible with the following handset models:

Nokia 60 series, N70 series, N80 series, N90 series, E60 series, E70 series and all Windows Mobile Series 5.0 and 6.0 handsets.

The original article from Forbes.com could be found here

What do you think the mobile operators will do to combat this? They may lose millions or even billions if users start to use this technology fully. Discuss it in my ChatterBox or even my comments area :)

World's First 65-nm 3G Chipset!

QUALCOMM, a wireless telecommunications research and development company based in San Diego, California has announced a significant milestone achievement in semiconductor technology as they unveiled the 65-nanometer (nm) chipsets to be used in newer generation of 3G handsets. They have also begun their worldwide commercial launch of this ultra small chipset technology.

They had launched at least 3 handsets with this technology and they estimate another 40 more new handsets will come along the way this year. This new chip is reportedly to be more cost effective to produce. Besides that, it has greater power efficiency and also a slimmer form factor while supporting the high-speed data capabilities and advanced service opportunities offered by 3G technology.

The 3 handsets vendors that had taken up this technology for their new 3G phone are: 

• The WCDMA (UMTS) U120 handset by Huawei
• The WCDMA (UMTS) KU250 handset by LG Electronics
• The HSDPA U700 handset by Samsung

The original article could be found at here

*There is also an article on LG KU250 handset titled "Cheaper 3G Phones?" in my archive.

My 3G Experience!

As for something different, instead of normal-boring-old-news, I am going to share my 3G experience with my readers. I have been using 3G services since about almost a year. I began using it somewhere in middle of July 2006. That was when I bought my Sony Ericsson K800i with my hard earn cash. And that was my first time holding a 3G phone too.

I am using Maxis 3G as my 3G operator as they provide very good 3G coverage around Klang Valley at that time. We basically only have 2 operators/telco to choose from only and that is either Celcom or Maxis. Since I am a user of Maxis since 2002, I opt to continue my loyalty with them.

As for the speed of 3G, rated at 384 kpbs, I find it rather amusing that they rated it so high. Most of the time, (whenever I paired it up with a laptop), the internet speed is rather slow. I do get a slightly faster then dial-up speed when surfing and getting about 20-30 kbps average download speed when downloading from good FTP sites such as from Microsoft. This is rather disappointing. 3G strength will affect the speed of the connection as well, so the speed at different location will vary but the different will not be drastic.

It did not went too well for video calls as well especially at the receiving end. The recipient will normally receive a laggy, jerky and out of frame video of the caller. The trick to reduce those jerky and laggy frames at the receiving end of the caller is to ask the caller to hold the phone still and do not move around too much. This will reduce the frame movement and thus, less data would be transmitted.

Cheaper 3G Phones?

In the recent "3G for All Programme", organised by The GSM Association, the LG-KU250 had emerged as the winner out of a total of 19 handsets by 8 different vendors of this event. This 3G handset from LG Electronics was selected by 12 leading operators to spearhead the GSMA's campaign to make multimedia mobile services more accessible and much cheaper to a wider user base. This phone is set to go on sale in Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa soon, probably somewhere this month or latest next month. 

Ehrlich, who is the chairman of the GSMA and also a board member of Hutchison Mobile Communications is sponsoring for the project. He commented "By focusing 3G handset makers on a much broader base of potential customers, this programme will have a significant and lasting impact on this industry."

The article also quoted:

" Starting this month, the LG-KU250 will be available in Germany, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Portugal, Italy, UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia.

The 12 operators that selected the winning handset were Cingular Wireless, Globe Telecom, Hutchison 3G, KTF, MTN, Orange, Smart, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telenor, T-Mobile and Vodafone. Bharti Airtel acted as an observer. "

That means we will also be getting the handset soon, but i do not see any familiar operator in there. Perhaps Vodafone will be providing us the under Celcom as the 3G operator as they had signed a joint-venture contract a year back then.

The original article was from :

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/24302.php

How to turn a 3G Smartphone into a Wireless Modem?

As I was browsing through the internet and at the same time searching on 3G stuffs, I stumble upon this video by Popular Mechanics. How to turn a 3G Smartphone into a Wireless Modem? It is an interesting topic as many of us are using 3G phones and are subscribing to 3G services but do not fully utilize the service. So I have decided to post up this link to enlighten my readers how to turn their phone to become a wireless modem :) This video demonstrates using a Windows CE based smart phone but pairing it up with other phones will be similar as well. You just got to explore your phone a little :)



The original source of the video clip was from TechEBlog, but as I do not have permission to link it straight from there, I linked it direct from YouTube instead.

SingTel Launches HSDPA Upgrade

Since, SingTel has already launch their HSDPA, I begin to wonder when is Malaysia's telco is going to launch our own HSDPA upgrade. We are still using earlier generation of 3G technology which running at the speed of only 384kbps while HSDPA is capable of running 3.6Mbps. The initial coverage will be along Orchard Road and CBD areas and by the end of 2007, the whole island will get this service. Not only that, SingTel is giving 400 of their customers a trial run for free which we do not get here when 3G were first launched here.

When do you think we will get our HSDPA? :<

For more information on this article, visit http://www.cellular-news.com/story/23977.php
 

Google 3G Phone?

Google Phone? Apple had come out with I-Phone prototype recently and will be launching it somewhere in the end of June and there had been talks going on that Google will create a Google Phone. Rumours? Maybe not, Isabel Aguilera, a Google executive, recently dropped some rather heavy hints about a possible mobile move. She even let it slip that Google is definitely "investigating" on a new 3G mobile phone. Seems like the rumours are true afterall and I-Phone may be getting some competition afterall. The more competitions there are, the better the consumers will get. What will the phone be call then? G-Phone? or G-String? I hope is the former. and not the latter.

According to most rumours, the handset is likely to have a full colour wide screen design and of course it is 3G ready. Who would want to buy a yesterday technology with today’s price? Little else is known about the proposed device, indeed it is still very far from certain that Google will even get as far as launching a prototype of the mobile phone afterall. If this phone will be launch, I am sure they will integrate Google Maps with GPS device into it as well. Afterall, Google Maps is due to be integrated into Apple's own I-Phone so why not in its own phone.

So do you think there will be a G-Phone?

For more Google Phone information, visit http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/mar_07/news_7724.shtml

3G Mobile TV With SmartCard Tech!

ASIA Taiwan : Content Protection specialist Discretix together with ESG and player provider CyberLink, mobile TV platform provider CoreMedia, and handheld device manufacturer GIGA-BYTE Communications (GBC), announced a demonstration of the first mobile TV handset supporting the Smartcard Profile.

The combined solution showcases the ability to build a robust, secure, standards-based and fully integrated mobile TV system based on the Smartcard Profile. During Computex Taipei 2007, the Smartcard Profile mobile TV system will be demonstrated at CyberLink’s hospitality room, Suite 1024/1049 in the Grand Hyatt Taipei hotel.

The mobile TV solution is being demonstrated on GBC’s new GSmart t600, the world’s first multi-standard mobile TV/PDA phone with built-in support for DVB-T, DVB-H, and DMB. The device, which supports Quad-Band GSM, features a large 2.6” touch panel display.

Driving the mobile TV system on the GSmart t600 are the Discretix’ Multi-Scheme Mobile TV Security Client, CyberLink’s Mobile TV Player and Electronic Service Guide (ESG), and CoreMedia’s Mobile TV Platform.

“The demonstration of this end-to-end Smartcard Profile-based system proves that standard-based, interoperable mobile TV is a reality today,” said Edo Ganot, executive vice president of sales and business development for Discretix. “Carriers, distributors and content creators can give this system serious consideration, drawing on the benefits of open standards solutions from reliable mobile software and hardware providers.”

“In the age of anywhere-anytime TV, stakeholders in the creative, programming and distribution channels require flexible business options and users want a seamless experience,” said Willms Buhse, Executive Director, CoreMedia. “By working closely with our partners, CoreMedia has created a system that ensures protection and user experience as well as innovative sales opportunities and billing support.”

“CyberLink is pleased to be able to provide critical operational functionality to this joint solution,” said Alice H.Chang, CEO of CyberLink. “Next-generation mobile DTV devices will not only need to be easy to use, but also able to deliver the quality experience necessary for subscription-based and pay-per-view entertainment. CyberLink’s mobile DTV platform offers that critical reliability and flexibility.”

Link from : http://www.coremedia.com/en/120612/discretix/

Increasing 3G Based Subscribers Worldwide

3G Technology are getting more and more popular nowadays. If you notice while taking a slow walk down the street, you will see more than half of the mobile phones user uses a 3G handset. More then less, those users whom uses a 3G handset have subscribed to 3G services and at least used the service more than once. This tread is increasing rapidly as technology is advancing at such a rapid pace.

According to the latest survey done by RNCOS, the worldwide 3G subscribers base will grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 55.93% for the period spanning from 2006 to 2010, where majority share of the 3G users are from the Asia-Pacific regions. Developing country like us already have 2 companies providing us with 3G services and another 2 on the line as our government recently "auctioned" off another 2 license to deserved holder. In the future, everyone will be able to experience all kind of 3G services.

Article was summarized from Cellular-News

New Interface for 3G Radio

OFDMA Technology also known as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access Technology, has expended its new technology interface with 3G Radio. During the recent meeting between ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) Working Party 8F (WP 8F), [a telecommunication standard body] members, they has approved a new technology, a new terrestrial radio interface, "OFDMA TDD WMAN" a subset of WiMax.

This new terrestrial radio interface complements the existing family of IMT-2000 radio interfaces. WP 8F along with ITU-R are working together to create a recipe and a roadmap foreseeing the future, far ahead of 3G technology which is comprised of a balance between a market and services view, a technology view, and a spectrum view.

ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) Working Party 8F (WP 8F) had promised to deliver research and development activities worldwide, spawn ideas on potential technologies  and also promoting views on spectrum required to address a rapidly growing wireless world.

For the full review article, please visit Cellular-News