LTE-broadcast alliance whitepaper shows growing momentum behind LTE-B technology and devices

Media Release, 12 January 2017
  • Together with the Innovation Observatory, the LTE-Broadcast Alliance has released a whitepaper on LTE-Broadcast (LTE-B) devices and use case requirements.
  • The aim of the whitepaper is to help align the industry and enable a common set of features and capabilities in LTE-B enabled devices delivered to the market.
  • The whitepaper also shows the growing momentum behind LTE-B as more services are prepared for launch.
  • Two new vendor members – Quickplay (part of the AT&T group) and DTG – join the Alliance to facilitate the development of the ecosystem around LTE-B, adding global reach and influence to the ecosystem. The Alliance now represents over 370M customers.
  • First LTE-B Alliance forum to be held at Mobile World Congress 2017.

The LTE-Broadcast Alliance and the Innovation Observatory have released a whitepaper on LTE-B device and use case requirements to assist device manufacturers to work to a common set of requirements, enabling an aligned set of features and capabilities in LTE-B enabled devices delivered to the market.

Sponsored by Telstra and EE, the whitepaper demonstrates why operators, content providers, device vendors and other partners must work collaboratively, and consider LTE-B-based services end-to-end rather than as separate parts of the value chain.

The paper also provides insight into the key device technical requirements and considerations when supporting a LTE-B device launch. The need for handset vendors to embed the necessary LTE-B features as standard in all new devices, and plan to introduce new key features such as MOOD (Multicast Operation on Demand) and session continuity to ensure greater adoption of the service.

Mike Wright, Telstra’s Group Managing Director of Networks, said the whitepaper demonstrated the importance of industry collaboration in order for LTE-B to deliver the right experience for consumers and businesses.

“The whitepaper shows that the market potential for LTE-Broadcast is huge. By delivering on-demand or popular content using one stream of data, will free up an operator’s network and help them deliver the best service to their customers. The LTE-B Alliance is key to ensuring operators, vendors and other partners unite and collaborate to deliver to the market.”

Matt Stagg, Head of Video Strategy at EE, said “The Alliance is growing and reaching new companies with new applications, and our inaugural Members’ Forum in February 2017 during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona will be another chance to learn more about the experiences of the ecosystem.”

There is global interest in the long term convergence of fixed, mobile and broadcast (DTT) networks for media and entertainment as part of a 5G future, and we are actively involved in industry groups looking at the opportunity.”

The whitepaper is available via the GSA website: http://gsacom.com/paper/lte-broadcast-white-paper.

Two new partners, Quickplay and DTG, have signed up to join the LTE-B Alliance. The Alliance was founded in April 2016 by Verizon, kt, Telstra and EE, and these new members join other vendor and mobile operator members - Ericsson, Expway, HKT and CSL Mobile, Huawei, NETGEAR, Nokia, Smartfren, TIM, and Turkcell.

This means the LTE-B Alliance now represents more than 370 million mobile subscribers worldwide.

With this increase in representation plus the launch of the whitepaper, the first LTE-B Alliance forum will be held at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona and open to all Alliance members and invited guests to attend. The forum is sponsored by Ericsson and will feature presentations from operators, vendors and content providers. If you would like to join this forum then please make sure you sign up as an Alliance member before the end of January 2017.


More about LTE-Broadcast

LTE-Broadcast or LTE-B, also known as evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS), allows a mobile operator to send a single stream of data to all mobile users in one area, rather than sending an individual stream to each user. As video is the main driver for traffic increases in mobile networks, as seen recently at major sporting events LTE-B can ensure a great customer experience, even in the areas of highest demand.

As well as supporting peak-time customer video consumption, LTE-B also has the potential to:

  • Be a vehicle for push notifications, such as over-the-air device updates, customer weather warnings, critical communications for public safety, enterprise group communication, or increasingly multimedia marketing messages;
  • Connect digital signage, so media agencies can dynamically change content for more personalised, targeted messages allowing users to better discover, explore, buy or use new products or services;
  • Become a service platform for (IoT) connectivity, communicating to billions of devices at the same time; and
  • Contribute to value-added services on 5G technologies, making the most of high bandwidth, low latency connectivity to multiple devices.

For information on how to join LTE-B Alliance, email LTEBalliance@team.telstra.com.


Additional information on Quickplay

Backed by a decade of experience, Quickplay is the global expert in powering TV to any device. Now part of the AT&T family, the world’s largest provider of pay TV, our managed services leverage cloud economics and an open platform to integrate best-of-breed partners so you can focus on growing your business. With facilities and operations teams in Toronto, San Diego, Singapore, Chennai, and Frankfurt, Quickplay enables hundreds of millions of viewers around the globe to fast forward to a next generation of TV with over 700 live channels, 4,000 live events each year, and 2 million securely managed premium content assets.