Carolina Klüft first to be featured in Telia’s mobile TV broadcasts

Telia is now launching its test to broadcast television programmes live on mobile phones. During Monday morning, Swedish athlete Carolina Klüft started her septathlon event and the official starting shot was also fired at the same time for Telia’s mobile television service with DVB-H*. The technology is similar to digital technology for terrestial televsion and Telia is the first operator in Sweden to carry out live tests.

During the European Athletics Championships in Sweden, 40 multimedia mobile phones will be used in the test. Residents of Gothenburg, which is the venue for the event, and visitors to the city can also test the technology themselves in Bältesspännarparken at Avenyn. Five television channels will be initially shown during the test broadcasts – SVT1, SVT2, TV4, Kanal 5 and Eurosport – and all will feature digital broadcasts of track and field events from the European Athletics Championships. “This is a good opportunity for us to start the DVB-H tests on mobiles during a period when people in Sweden will be most interested in live broadcasts from the Championships, says Anders Bruse, Head of Products and Services at TeliaSonera Sweden.. Television broadcasts on mobile phones are an important initiative to expand our range of services through our Telia SurfPort mobile portal.” During September, a pilot test will be launched in the Hammarby Sjöstad suburb of Stockholm, where 50 families will be able to watch television on DVB-H enabled multimedia mobile phones. Approximately ten channels will be launched with programming to suit the entire family. “Tests have already been conducted with very good results in Finland by TeliaSonera. After the pilot test, many people said they would consider purchasing a DVB-H enabled phone with the service. We believe that digital mobile television has just as much potential here in Sweden,” says Anders Bruse at TeliaSonera. Telia will evaluate the DVB-H technology after the Hammarby Sjöstad pilot trials in Stockholm. A close dialogue will be maintained with the test families to map the needs and requests of family members. DVB-H technology guarantees better picture and sound quality than previous systems. An unlimited number of viewers can watch live broadcasts of programs on mobile phones without the quality of the broadcast being affected. DVB-H also increases the battery capacity. The tests are being conducted in co-operation with Nokia, which is supplying the DVB-H system and its N92 multimedia mobile phone. * DVB-H – Digital Video Broadcast – Handheld