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Qualcomm gets challenge from Nokia and Intel and the gang, in mobile TV

Intel, Motorola, Nokia and Texas Instruments are teaming up to promote the use of TV on mobile phones and other devices. The Mobile DTV alliance will work to promote the Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld (DVB-H) standard and encourage best practice.

In the US (reports DigitMag) Qualcomm subsidiary Mediaflo USA is building a nationwide network based on a proprietary technology that will allow operators to offer TV content to customers. Verizon Wireless said it will use the network but Sprint Nextel just last week said it would use a broadband wireless network that it plans to build to deliver mobile TV.

The standards-based Nokia-led consortium is a direct challenge to these proprietary concepts.

There are currently DVB-H trials in the UK and Europe with most markets in the US expected to have DVB-H access by 2007.

The group claims the standard will benefit operators by preserving bandwidth for voice and data services - DVB-H broadcasts directly to handsets from TV masts rather than using the cellular network.

More details on Nokia's website here.

This story copyright The Register®