Telecom Italia Mobile Moves Rapidly From Trials to Commercial Service with Thomson

Grass Valley Technology Now Being Rolled Out Across Italy

Paris - 05 September 2006 -- Thomson, (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS) following a highly successful trial around the Torino Winter Olympic Games early in 2006, announced today it has signed a contract with Telecom Italia allowing the operator to move immediately to a commercial launch using equipment from Grass Valley, an activity within Thomson.
"The next challenge for the electronic media industry will be to deliver rich content to mobile devices, and that is why so many are turning to Thomson ", commented Marc Valentin, president of the Grass Valley business within Thomson. " Because the speed with which this new industry is developing means that the service providers need a technology partner they can rely on to provide comprehensive, integrated technology platforms."
The Winter Olympics having proven to be successful, Telecom Italia decided to move forward and to further develop its agreement with Grass Valley for the delivery and systems management technology for a full commercial rollout of their mobile offering. The new service went on air in June 2006, broadcasting a number of channels from Telecom Italia, plus coverage of Serie A and Champions League football.
As prime contractor for the project, Grass Valley provided the complete head-end with Argos scrambling H.264 encoders, Opal DVB-H encapsulators and a Lazulite network management system. The SmartVision™ Mobility platform manages the electronic service guide, conditional access, and content and interactive services, and a SmartCast Mobility platform provides overall system management. A Grass Valley Cobalt DVB-H data analyser is used to check signal parameters.