Namibia takes the lead in mobile television

MTC Namibia and MultiChoice Namibia announced on 18 March 2008 the launch of one of the world's most eagerly anticipated new consumer technologies - mobile television.This launch puts Namibia at the front of the digital technology race in Africa and highlights the progressive stance that the Namibian Communication Commission (NCC) is taking in the roll-out of new technologies in the country.

MultiChoice Namibia switched on its mobile television network today using the Digital Video Broadcast - Handheld (DVB-H) technology standard. DVB-H is regarded as the world's leading mobile broadcast technology standard and allows for the digital terrestrial broadcast of live television channels to a mobile phone.

Consumers in Namibia will be able to receive a specially compiled package of DStv channels on their mobile phones that includes popular channels such as CNN, Big Brother Africa, NBC and top-level sport from around the world.Worldwide research indicates there is genuine consumer desire for superior quality video and audio content that offers information, as well as entertainment, anywhere, anytime - and mobile TV is a very natural progression from TV in the lounge.

Industry analysts predict that by 2010 up to 150 million people worldwide will be regular users of mobile broadcast services.MultiChoice Namibia General Manager, Kobus Bezuidenhout, said: "We are very excited that Namibia becomes one of the first countries in Africa to roll-out mobile television services. With our partners MTC we will ensure that Namibians have early access to global innovations in the industry."Albertus Aochamub, General Manager: Corporate Affairs of MTC Namibia, adds: "MTC brought mobile telephony to Namibia 13 years ago. We recently introduced mobile broadband through our 3G/HSDPA during December 2006 and we can now proudly participate in a mobile TV offering using our world-class network."DVB-H allows for the digital terrestrial broadcast of live television channels to mobile telephones.

It differs from third-generation (3G) mobile telephony in that DVB-H is a one-to-many transmission on a linear basis and uses broadcasting infrastructure, while 3G uses telephony infrastructure that delivers point-to-point services. DVB-H therefore uses scarce bandwidth much more effectively than 3G technologies. 3G and DVB-H can, however, be complementary, especially in the provision of return path service for live television (ie, voting from big Brother, etc) or similar services.

MultiChoice Namibia chose the DVB-H standard because it improves robustness in the very difficult reception environments of indoor and outdoor and lowers battery power consumption in mobile phones.In order to receive the DStv-Mobile service, Namibian consumers will have to acquire a mobile phone that is specially configured to receive DVB-H broadcasts and is programmed for this purpose in Namibia. DVB-H configured cellular telephones will be made available to consumers through MTC.