Alcatel-Lucent supports launch of world’s first commercial trial of mobile TV service based on the Open Mobile Alliance’s BCAST Smartcard Profile

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced its support for the world’s first commercial trial of the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA)’s new BCAST Smartcard Profile, an key emerging standard for Mobile TV content protection. This trial is being led by Alcatel-Lucent for MobileOne (M1), a mobile telecommunications service provider in Singapore, and MediaCorp, the country’s leading media company,

The trial, which began in early August 2008, is based on Alcatel-Lucent’s industry-leading Mobile Interactive TV solution, which will power the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld) platform for the trial. The trial also includes mobile devices from Samsung and Smartcard Profile-compliant SIM cards from Gemalto.

Alcatel-Lucent’s DVB-H platform supports the Open Mobile Alliance BCast Smartcard Profile (OMA BCAST SCP) standard, which is being adopted globally. This is a SIM-based service protection system that enables Mobile TV providers to offer flexible subscription models incorporating services such as pay-per-view, pay-per-time, recorded content and more.

The Alcatel-Lucent Unlimited Mobile TV solution is a complete, turnkey solution that presents end-users with a truly diversified Mobile TV offer based on a mix of mainstream broadcast channels and an unlimited number of specialty unicast channels. Thanks to its multi-standard approach - spanning 3G, DVB-H and DVB-SH - the solution supports most of the DVB-H handsets on the market, including those supporting Digital Right Management Profile (DRMP) or Smartcard Profile (SCP).

“DVB-H delivers true mobile TV experience to users and will redefine the parameters of mobile phone use. We are excited to offer users a peek into this new generation of broadcast services over mobile, using Alcatel-Lucent’s mobile TV solution. The consumer trial involving Alcatel-Lucent and other technology partners will help point the way forward,” said Lee Kok Chew, Director of Business Development and Strategic Planning, M1.

“DVB-H is a new and exciting technology that can offer mobile TV broadcasts to our customers. The solution from Alcatel-Lucent and its partners will help us gauge customer’s receptiveness to the service and fine-tune our planning parameters,” said Kang Aik Siang, SingTel’s Director of Consumer Products (Mobile).

Anil Nihalani, StarHub’s Head of Mobile Services, said, “The DVB-H platform is designed to optimise the delivery of broadcast content over mobile devices. StarHub is keen to gauge the receptiveness of our customers to this new service, and is pleased to be working with Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung and Gemalto in the user trial.”

Mock Pak Lum, MediaCorp’s Managing Director for Technologies said, “The mobile phone is truly a unique platform as a third screen for TV content. The success of the Mobile TV service depends on abundance of handsets and good user experience. We are very happy that Alcatel-Lucent is supporting us for this trial”.

“We are pleased to be able to partner with Singapore’s leading mobile communications industry players in bringing more advanced mobile TV options to Singaporeans,” said Oliver Foo, managing director, Singapore and Brunei, Alcatel-Lucent. “Asian subscribers are ready for a mobile TV offering that delivers a large variety of choices, a high level of personalization, maximum interactivity and great quality of service.”

“Samsung is pleased to provide the latest Samsung SGH-P960 for the consumer mobile DVB-H trials in Singapore conducted by the three local telecommunications providers and MediaCorp,” said Yoon Ki-Heung, Managing Director, Samsung Asia. “With its DVB-H digital TV receiver, large LCD screen, HSDPA support and other capabilities, the SGH-P960 is an excellent showcase of Samsung’s mobile technology leadership. Samsung is confident in the upcoming DVB-H trials and looks forward to the day consumers in Singapore can get seamless streamed broadcast content direct into their mobile handsets.”

“We are very glad to be part of this exciting Mobile TV consumer trial in Singapore where we have the backing from some of the best in the industry,” said Tan Teck Lee, President Gemalto Asia. “We are also happy to be working with Alcatel-Lucent to bring our expertise in digital security together with Alcatel-Lucent’s multi-standard experience including DVB-H to deliver a top-notch service to consumers in Singapore.”

“NDS is proud to be providing its industry leading Conditional Access System, with our external link VideoGuard® Mobile, for this groundbreaking trial, in cooperation with Alcatel-Lucent, M1, MediaCorp, SingTel, StarHub and our other partners,” said Sue Taylor, VP and General Manager of NDS Asia Pacific. “The NDS solution is based on the NDS Unified Headend architecture, which provides a single point of rights management for all video broadcasts, irrespective of the delivery networks or the rendering devices. The new platform will enable our partners to support multiple mobile broadcast profiles and multiple handsets simultaneously and cost-effectively.”