Ericsson Showcases LTE Broadcast at MWC 2013

TV and video traffic is set to dominate networks and grow from 40 percent to 90 percent of mobile traffic within the next 3-4 years. This is increasing pressure on operators provide their customers with the TV Anywhere experience, while at the same time managing network costs and efficiency.

To respond to the growing need for video over LTE, Ericsson is launching an exclusive end-to-end solution, offering the highest-quality video content for popular events. It enables operators and their media partners to provide premium services with guaranteed quality and cost-efficient delivery over LTE, bringing with it new sources of revenue.

At recent CES, Verizon announced how they will use Ericsson’s evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS) to allow sports fans to access multiple camera angles, feeds and stats from live broadcast video, directly on their smartphone with LTE Broadcast technology. They will be able to get another view of a missed play or hone in on what’s happening at the other end of the field.

Parissa Pandkhou, Director - Advanced Solutions, Verizon says "Verizon plans to introduce Ericsson LTE Broadcast to give sports fans a whole new experience while watching a game. We see new opportunities in this technology for sports, concerts and even distance learning and college classes."

Verizon Wireless is to introduce LTE Broadcast for entertainment and sporting events beginning in 2014.

Australian operator Telstra's Executive Director for Networks and Access Technology, Mike Wright confirmed that Telstra will partner with Ericsson on a live network trial of LTE Broadcast technology in the second half of 2013.

The LTE Broadcast solution consists of three new technology standards:

  • HEVC - the new video compression standard promises to half the bandwidth required to transport video content compare to today's leading implementation of MPEG-4 AVC.
  • MPEG DASH - simplifies and standardizes the adaptive delivery of video to consumer devices, ensuring a better quality of service, greater efficiency and opening opportunities for monetization
  • eMBMS (Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) - a 3GPP standard that enables mobile networks to offer broadcast/multicast services dynamically to offload issues of popular content in dense consumption scenarios, reducing the cost of service delivery over the radio network and for backhaul.