Ericsson has partnered with network operator KPN in conducting the first LTE Broadcast trial in the Netherlands. The event took place on Saturday May 3 in the Amsterdam Arena stadium during the Apex versus NEC soccer game.
Ericsson's LTE Broadcast solution uses three new standards: eMBMS, HEVC and MPEG DASH. Evolved Multimedia Broadcast / Multicast Service (eMBMS), as the name implies, uses IP multicast to allow one-to-many broadcasting via LTE networks.
"Our experience with our country-wide 4G network demonstrates there is a clear customer demand for video content during events," said Joost Steltenpool, Director, Access, KPN. "Therefore our aim was to find a solution for delivering high quality video content to large groups of people. The key for such a solution is greater network efficiency and guaranteed service quality. Ericsson’s LTE Broadcast solution has been shown to deliver such a solution to our customers in the Amsterdam Arena. KPN is enthusiastic about the success of the pilot and is currently exploring next steps."
Valter D'Avino, Head of Region Western & Central Europe Ericsson, added: "Ericsson is in a unique position to deliver LTE Broadcast. By blending insight on consumer habits, deep mobile networks expertise, 20 years of video compression technology leadership and service leadership we are able to help operators maximize the revenue opportunity represented by this rapid evolution in video consumption and user demand."
In the United States, Verizon used the Super Bowl to show off LTE broadcast video,and last month FierceWireless reported AT&T 'exploring the possibility' of LTE Broadcast with eMBMS.
