MediaFLO to compete in Taiwan market: Q&A with Qualcomm VP Neville Meijers Tweet

As the Taiwan government plans to issue mobile TV operating licenses around the end of 2010, Qualcomm will partner with Taiwan-based enterprises, including Foxlink and Linkmedia Technology (a joint venture of Foxlink and Qualcomm), to promote its MediaFLO technology, according to Neville Meijers, company senior vice president and general manager for MediaFLO Technologies, during a recent interview by Digitimes.

Q: The development of the global mobile TV market seems to be slower than expected. What is your opinion?

A: Mobile movies and other types of mobile multimedia services have great market potential and the global mobile TV market is growing fast - expected to reach a total value of US$9.7 billion in 2012 as forecast by Juniper Research. However, spectrum availability is a challenge, for many Asian countries, except Japan and Taiwan, have not yet allocated frequency bands for mobile TV operations.

Q: How do you see the competition between MediaFLO and the relatively new standard ATSC-M/H (Advanced Television Systems Committee-Mobile/Handheld) in the US market?

A: The two standards complement each other to some extent. FLO TV (Qualcomm's subsidiary) has launched the MediaFLO mobile TV service for many years and the operation has been successful as witnessed by adoption by AT&T and Verizon Wireless. In addition to online mobile TV broadcast, the MediaFLO platform supports various mobile multimedia service including Clipcasting, Datacasting, interactive applications and targeted advertising.

Q: What are FLO TV's operational focuses in the US and international markets this year?

A: For the US market, FLO TV's 2010 operation focuses on the transformation from a wholesale provider of mobile TV service to a mainstream consumer brand. Since the success of mobile TV service hinges on several factors including spatial coverage, terminal devices, platform, broadcast and content, FLO TV lays emphasis on maintaining its existing status of a leading supplier of mobile movie service and enriching the content of its service by adding high-level functions such as VOD (video on demand) and flexible service packages.

With accreditation from the US TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association), ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) and ITU-R (International Telecommunication Union-Radiocommunication Sector), FLO TV plans to introduce its successful operational model in the US into overseas markets including Asia. MediaFLO is one of the two mobile TV standards selected by the Japan government, and it is hoped that Taiwan will adopt it as well.

Q: As the operation of ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial) TV service has been very successful in Japan, will it be too late for MediaFLO to enter the market? Does MediaFLO have any advantage over ISDB-T?

A: FLO TV believes that it is opportune for MediaFLO to enter the Japan market based on its viewpoint that ISDB-T One-Seg is a FTA (free-to-air) technology complementary to MediaFLO and thus will help increase the demand for mobile TV service in Japan. A device can be equipped with a multi-mode IC supporting both MediaFLO and ISDB-T One-Seg, such as Qualcomm-developed Universal Broadcast Modem (UBM). FLO TV has successfully finished two pilot projects to test multi-mode mobile TV service in Japan and is well poised to launch such service.

Q: Taiwan is a global production base of handsets but Taiwan-based makers have become less interested in adopting mobile TV functions than before. Do you think it is time for handset makers to enter the mobile TV sector now?

A: It is opportune now. Qualcomm has closely cooperated with several Taiwan-based companies to promote mobile TV. For example, HTC has offered two MediaFLO-enabled handset models of which Windows Mobile-based HTC Imagio is the first one of such models in the world, while another Taiwan-based company has offered personal TVs for FLO TV. Taiwan-based companies can develop and produce MediaFLO-enabled handsets for sale in the US and other markets.

Q: The Taiwan government plans to issue mobile TV operating licenses around the end of 2010. Will Qualcomm participate in the competition?

A: Taiwan is one of the most advanced markets of wireless communications in the world and a global production base of communication equipment. It has a penetration rate of 84% for paid TV service. We believe mobile TV have big potentials in the Taiwan market. With the Taiwan government expected to issue licenses this year, Qualcomm will partner with Foxlink and Linkmedia Technology, as well as other enterprises, to join the competition.

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