Telepath Technologies Co., Ltd. had a lot of guests before the Beijing Olympic Games were kicked off. Among them were chip vendors Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) and Infineon Technologies, as well as handset manufacturers High Tech Computer Corporation (HTC), Lenovo and ZTE Corporation. Telepath was caught off guard by all the sudden interest.
What brought Telepath into focus is one product - CMMB-based modem chip. CMMB stands for China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting, which is the mobile TV standard developed by China’s broadcasting industry. The Olympics provided a rare opportunity for the mobile TV industry to get off the mark. According to Beijing-based market research firm iResearch, the market value of mobile TV in China will reach RMB2.3 billion (US$337 million) in 2008 with 12 million users, and the figure will increase to RMB5.9 billion (US$864 million) by 2010.
CMMB signals were implemented in 37 key cities across China during the Beijing Olympics. CMMB features mature technology, valuable content, completed deployment of broadcasting base stations, good publicity, and a booming industry application. These factors would indicate a bright future for CMMB. There is one problem, however: the Network Access License (NAL).
The NAL is required for the manufacturing and sales of mobile phones, and telecom carriers like China Mobile takes control of it. So far, only a few CMMB-enabled TD-SCDMA models have secured the NAL, but no GSM phones, the mainstream mobile standard in China, have been granted the license. Telepath is frustrated that phones with DTV have been rejected, while phones featuring FM radio and analog TV were handed the NAL.
One Technology - Two Bosses
As a new medium for convergence, the mobile TV industry is encountering its first big challenge in China: who is in charge and in what way? China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), are the two authorities in charge of telecom and broadcasting industries respectively. “The current situation is that both MIIT and SARFT don’t know much about each other’s technology,” says one industry insider. “As well, the communication competition between them makes things even more difficult. The mobile TV industry is converged and is under the jurisdiction of multiple authorities.”
CMMB technology was developed by the broadcasting sector in a way that makes mobile TV seem an evolution of audio broadcasting - distribute TV content via broadcasting (including DBS) and allow users to view and send back content through a receiver. If CMMB became the mainstream, mobile TV features would soon prevail and be adopted by much of the population. Consequently, the broadcasting sector would have the final say of handheld devices including MP4 and PDA, similar to what happened in the audio broadcasting segment in the past.
CMMB appears to have taken a leading position in the market: besides the already-established standard, the technology does have a few edges. Signal coverage in one city can be accomplished with several base stations, and the broadcasting signals boast excellent penetration and depth. “Now there are seven base stations in Beijing that provide full-city coverage. In Shanghai, there are two so far, and some areas are still not covered. However, building several more base stations can help solve the problem,” says TimiTech President Shen Hongbing. Furthermore, the CMMB broadcasting base station buildout is not a complicated task and does not require considerable investment. “Nearly all cities are equipped with several ‘dish antennas’. All that needs to be done is to replace a PCB. The task of building several base stations can be easily done in a week.”
However, facing the vast potential of mobile TV, China Mobile, the country’s No. 1 mobile telecommunications carrier, developed its own plan long ago: promoting MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) technology. But, the IP-based MBMS specification released by 3GPP hasn’t been recognized as an international standard yet. Furthermore, MBMS cannot be implemented without software upgrades to WCDMA/HSDPA base stations. As cooperation with chip vendors including Spreadtrum Communications is established along with base station and resource support, it’s believed that many “non-regular phones” (unauthorized phones) featuring CMMB mobile TV functions will emerge in the market in the near future.
Under such circumstances, China Mobile first imposed NAL restrictions on CMMB, and then developed its own Olympic “mobile TV” transition solution: building on the existing WAP/GPRS infrastructure and mobile clients, enabling users to watch TV via their handsets. Despite the resulting impeded playback quality and specific requirements for terminal hardware, the solution means users don’t have to change their handsets, which sets it apart from CMMB. In the mean time, China Mobile has also lowered standard rates for Olympic mobile TV - the former default rate for Internet traffic (RMB0.03/KB) has been replaced by two options: RMB0.01/KB and a monthly flat rate (RMB10).
SARFT has inherent advantages in resources, technologies and industrialization, while China Mobile is taking advantage of the NAL restrictions. Although the Olympics pushed both parties to cooperate temporarily, the trans-sector turbulence and competition over mobile TV, which covers everything from technology to user acquisition, will continue for a long time.
Against this backdrop, the fight for a future final say in the mobile TV market seems complicated and confusing. CMMB boasts outstanding performance at present, but China Mobile has not fully exerted itself yet. It’s too early for SARFT to celebrate.
