Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), Orange France, and Alcatel announced today the selection of Toulouse and the Midi-Pyrenees Region for the first trial out side the laboratories of the main technical characteristics of the new mobile broadcasting solution over a hybrid satellite and terrestrial transmission system using S-band. This system is central to Alcatel's "Unlimited Mobile TV" solution. The technical trial in Toulouse, focused on the space aspects of this project, is preliminary to the research and development efforts for the terrestrial aspects of the project, made possible with support from the French Industrial Innovation Agency.
The CNES financed and oversaw the design and deployment of the demonstrator, set the trial schedule, and is leading the trial; Orange, the leader in mobile broadcasting, is providing terrestrial repeater sites and contributing its expertise for analyzing results; Alcatel is conducting all trial measurements and preparing the result analysis; in addition, Eutelsat and SES Astra are supplying the satellite resources needed for feeding terrestrial repeaters. The trial was initially scheduled to continue through September 2006. Based on initial results, it has been decided to extend the technical trial through the end of 2006. As part of this extended trial period, Eutelsat will partner with CNES, Orange France, and Alcatel in order to pursue the validation of the technical choices of the hybrid satellite and terrestrial broadcasting system to provide S-band services.
The announcement prompted Janine Langlois-Glandier, President of the Mobile Television Forum, to state: "The Mobile Television Forum recently declared its support for the adoption of standards which are widely approved in Europe and which guarantee interoperability, such as the DVB-H standard and its evolution in the S-band. We are pleased that a trial using the S-band solution will be conducted in Toulouse by CNES with Orange France and Alcatel, because we believe that this solution will assure consistency that will be beneficial for France and Europe as a whole."
The trial is part of permanent ongoing projects being conducted by CNES on space applications for the consumer market, and part of continuing preparatory work being conducted jointly by CNES and Alcatel on architectural concepts and the feasibility of a variety of technical alternatives for a hybrid satellite and terrestrial system for mobile broadcasting.
