ICO Partners With Alcatel-Lucent to Offer Mobile Interactive Media Services

By Doug Lung
published

ICO Global Communications and Alacatel-Lucent have finalized an agreement for mobile interactive media services. ICO is developing an integrated satellite and terrestrial communications system. Under the contract announced Monday, Alcatel-Lucent will provide end-to-end network integration services as well as equipment, engineering and implementation services for a trial of MIM services next year. The ICO MIM will provide full-duplex IP data communications services using the GMR air interface technology, mobile video products utilizing DVB-SH and interactive navigation.

The companies said in a statement the unique DVB-SH solution is supported “by an ecosystem of partners including major chipset vendors and terminal manufacturers.” It is part of Alcatel-Lucent’s “unlimited Mobile TV Solution.”

John Meyer, president for Alcatel-Lucent’s services activities, said, “We are excited about the opportunity to support ICO in the groundbreaking use of DVB-SH in the United States. To support this highly complex project, we have pulled together talents, leveraging our extensive multivendor network integration experience, our leadership position in DVB-SH and the expertise of Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs.”

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.