Digita and Nokia signed world's first commercial DVB-H mobile TV platform supply contract
Digita and Nokia have signed the world's first commercial DVB-H mobile TV platform supply contract. Nokia will deliver to Digita its Nokia Broadcast Solution (MBS) 3.0, which is a service management solution for DVB-H services. The MBS 3.0 supports the broadcasting of different types of digital content such as live TV, radio, and video clips over DVB-H networks to mobile devices. Digita obtained the DVB-H network license from the Finnish Government earlier in 2006. Digita will be responsible for the broadcasting network and administration of channels as the network operator. The first stage of network rollout in 2006 will cover the area inside the Ring Road III in the Helsinki region and the cities of Turku, Tampere, and Oulu. The network will reach 29 percent of the population in Finland by the end of 2006. Digita has already made plans to extend the network to cover the majority of Finns. Negotiations with the possible service operators have been based on these plans.

"Nokia is extremely pleased to see the start of commercial mobile TV roll outs that are based on open standards. Nokia strongly believes that mobile TV based on open standards prevents fragmentation of the DVB-H market and enables a healthy competitive open market," said Harri Männistö, director, Multimedia, Nokia.

"For Digita a very important element of Nokia's platform is that it supports the international DVB-H standard, which is open for all terminal suppliers", said Kari Risberg, technical director, Digita.

"Digita will utilize the open network model for the DVB-H network which will be in commercial use already this year. Our role is to be the network operator and offer capacity and services of the network to all service providers under equal, fair, and transparent terms", said Sirpa Ojala, managing director, Digita.

Nokia's MBS 3.0 solution is based on open standards such as DVB-H and will support both Open Air Interface (OAI) and the DVB-CBMS implementation profiles. In the service protection, Nokia is supporting the open standard 18C solution based on OMA DRM 2.0, which can be used to protect any digital content in addition to TV programming. The key features of the MBS 3.0 include the Electronic Serve Guide (ESG), a consumer interface in the mobile device for searching available services, setting alerts for upcoming programs and for the viewing selection. Additionally, the MBS 3.0 offers flexible content pricing schemes and provides consumers with an easy way to purchase viewing rights.

Digita, Elisa, MTV3, Nelonen, Nokia, Sonera and YLE jointly conducted a mobile TV pilot in Finland between March and June 2005 with 500 users accessing mobile TV using the Nokia 7710 smartphone and DVB-H technology. The results of the pilot were very positive and revealed the popularity and willingness to pay for mobile TV services among consumers.