Qualcomm, Nokia setting stage for 5G broadcast with landmark demo

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Nokia, MTV, Elisa, ENENSYS Technologies, Bittium and Yle, have announced that they will showcase the new opportunities that the evolution to 5G broadcast enables for next-generation terrestrial TV delivery.

The demonstration will show that wireless networking technologies are now ready to deliver highly customisable, mass-market broadcast services more efficiently, such as live media content to consumers. The live demonstration is scheduled to take place at the Nokia Executive Experience Center in Espoo, Finland from 12 – 3 p.m. EEST on May 16, 2018.

The demonstration will also show how the ongoing development of cellular-based broadcast technology enables convergent, in-home delivery of the same content on both large TV screens and mobile devices. The technical theme of the event is the broadcast functionality used by media content distributors, presented by Nokia, ENENSYS and Qualcomm Technologies. Elisa is involved as an operator as well as a content producer, together with MTV and Yle. This event is an early proof point of the potential of 5G media distribution to the entire end-to-end TV broadcasting ecosystem, comprising of: “end device, mobile network operator, TV broadcaster, and content provider”.

3GPP has already stated its vision to support digital TV delivery in the 5G era, and it has defined a set of 5G requirements for multimedia broadcast services. This collaboration has standardised LTE enTV (enhanced TV) in 3GPP Release 14 – an important technology that enables digital TV broadcasting over cellular networks and establishes the foundation for 5G broadcast.

The introduction of enTV in Release 14 is a significant enhancement in the cellular broadcast evolution, as it gives a standardized framework that enables broadcasters and content providers to more easily leverage the established cellular networks to deliver their content. Release 14 LTE enTV also brings several radio access layer enhancements, including the support for better coverage, higher broadcast capacity, and more deployment flexibility for both mobile and fixed devices.

On the system side, enhancements enable receive-only devices such as TVs that do not require SIM or service subscription, transport-only services that allow content providers to deliver media in native format, and shared broadcast that allows multiple operators to utilize a common broadcast carrier. The Release 14 enTV specifications can already meet EU digital TV broadcast requirements.

“We are seeing the media industry continue to rapidly evolve and demand the features that both terrestrial and mixed-mode broadcast technologies can deliver,” said Enrico Salvatori, Senior Vice President and President, Qualcomm Europe/Middle East and Africa. “As such, there is huge potential for the entire broadcast ecosystem in cellular broadcast technology as it provides a platform for the rollout of new services, plus greatly enhanced experiences for users. We continue to execute on Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G future vision with this LTE enTV collaboration, and we believe the potential this technology brings to increase reach and service portfolios makes this a compelling proposition for broadcasters, content providers and mobile network operators alike.”

“The digital broadcasting of television and video services require not only maximum capacity but also reliable and fast connections. Here we come to the essence of 5G networks, which offer a speed equivalent to mobile fiber offering, with unmatched quality of service and almost no latency or access time to the network. 5G will allow live streaming of high resolution video or TV content”, says Dirk Lindemeier, Vertical Network Slices, Head of Media & Entertainment, from Nokia Mobile Networks. “Nokia’s 5G technology is prepared for this evolution. This is a potential replacement for DTT, already started with 4G Broadcast and opening the door to the broadcast/unicast combination that bring content to tablets, smartphones and also to TVs.”

“We are seeing increased interest by Operators and Broadcasters, in particular with the advances that Rel-14 enTV brings, allowing our customers to add LTE Broadcast to their technology mix”, said Jean-Marc Guyot VP of ENENSYS Telecom Networks. “With its fully virtualized, distributed and scalable eMBMS solution, ENENSYS enables its customer to optimise the LTE Broadcast system to the success and ramp up of its services, ensuring a better monetization of our customer offer. As a key stakeholder in 3GPP, ENENSYS thrives in continuing to participate in the enhancements of the LTE Broadcast standard with its partners”.

We are in the midst of a historical turning point. Broadcasting has existed for a century, and technical changes have so far been a question of moving from one technical generation to the next”, said Lauri Kivinen, CEO from Yle – Finnish Broadcasting Co. “Now broadcasting is moving to IP networks, i.e. from specific distribution networks to general networks that are used for several purposes. TV and radio can already be received through several networks and everyone has a receiver in their pocket. The frequency efficiency of 5G is an essential step in the right direction, and it is no longer necessary to send live content to each recipient separately. We are moving into a completely new world, where we make our content equally available through different distribution channels. Our job is to ensure that content is easily accessible across all networks, with as many different devices as possible.”