Tight Squeeze for Mobile TV

CNET covers a recent report from U.K. firm Analysys that predicts 3G networks might be overwhelmed if mobile TV takes off. According to the report, capacity on 3G networks "could be exceeded as early as 2007 if 40 percent of subscribers view even eight minutes of video per day."

Alastair Brydon at Analysys said, "Streaming video consumes 10 times the bandwidth over a network that voice traffic consumes. So watching 10 minutes worth of video per day will have a significant impact on the network. Right now, the 3G networks are empty, so it's not a problem. But if the service proves popular, then it could be a big problem."

With huge investments being made in their 3G infrastructure, carriers are looking to drive data traffic, however potential troubles could ensue, "because 3G was never built to deliver streaming video." Albert Lin at American Technology Research said, "The carriers are going to have to move the traffic off the cell network eventually. It just doesn't have the kind of capacity that video demands."

Brydon at Analysys added, "3G is a poor solution for a big media event, like a breaking news story or a championship sporting event. Just when everyone tunes in to see what's happening, the network fails. Not having enough capacity is clearly a bit of a weakness."

The article looks at the various technologies being championed in the industry for alleviating these issues, such as Qualcomm's MediaFLO technology, which allows for a separate end-to-end network for mobile multimedia services.

Of course, Analysys' warnings could be a moot point given the slow adoption rate of mobile video by consumers. Albert Lin at AmTech summed up the current situation perfectly when he said, "MobiTV says they have 500,000 subscribers. But that's out of a total of 175 million cellular subscribers. That doesn't sound like a significant market to me yet. Despite all the promotions and hype, I don't think the volume is really going to be significant until at least 2007. And by then, these new technologies should be available to the market."