A standards body backed by the EU approved the first access BPL specifications, which promise to hasten rollout of “high-speed, low-cost broadband access, voice and audio visual services as well as utility applications for control and management operations.” The Open PLC European Research Alliance (OPERA) said it picked technology by Spanish chipmaker Design of System on Silicon (DS2) as the baseline for the specification for access and in-home BPL. “It is a step in the right direction,” said Brett Kilbourne, regulatory dir. of the United Power Line Council (UPLC): “It is better than nothing at all.”
Taiwanese manufacturer Tatung will begin marketing its smartphones to European operators, it said Thurs. while showcasing them at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona. Tatung’s new M1 smartphone is made with mobile chips from Tex. Instruments, and will use the Windows Mobile operating system; Tatung told reporters it intends to roll out its first mass-produced 3G handsets by the end of 2006.
Nokia demonstrated 3 new devices, demonstrated its first unlicensed mobile access (UMA) network, launched new frequency variants for its Nokia Flexi WCDMA Base Station, and announced collaborations. The manufacturer unveiled 2 new midrange camera phones -- a 1.3 megapixel device and a basic low cost design -- and the 6136 UMA device, able to switch between GSM and WLAN networks. European carrier Orange will be among the first to use the 6136. Parallel to that announcement, Nokia announced its new UMA solution, which it said aims to boost service availability. The UMA network will use different spectrum access technologies, some exploiting licensed frequencies, some unlicensed. Announcing the products, Nokia CEO Jorma Ollia forecast 2006 sales of about 40 million 3G/WCDMA devices, plus over 150 million devices with an integrated FM radio. In the 2nd half of 2006, Nokia said, its Flexi stations will be available for 2100 MHz, 1700 MHz, 180 MHz and 1700/2100 MHz frequencies; even more frequencies will be covered in early 2007.
LG is “working hard to make sure we have not only the most cost-effective approach” to DTV converters under the new DTV transition law’s subsidy provisions (CD Feb 9 p9), but also “one that provides value to the consumer and the best reception performance possible,” Vp John Taylor told us. LG got the tap from MSTV and NAB, along with Thomson, to develop a prototype low-cost converter box. “This is not a high-end box by any means,” Taylor said. “It doesn’t output high definition. It doesn’t include a DVR. It doesn’t include a DVD. Just the basics.” LG believes the $50 box it’s designing for MSTV and NAB will qualify for the $40 voucher program, even if it includes a PSIP-based “simple” electronic program guide, because it’s “very cost-effective to implement,” Taylor said. “It’s a necessity in today’s multichannel digital world to have a simple navigation device. It’s not a full-blown Gemstar guide, nor does it need to be. When you look at the growing number of multicast channels, we think this is just an important component of the overall package. We call it a low-end, affordable approach.” LG hasn’t yet shown a final prototype to MSTV or NAB, but the company has met all the “development timelines” and plans to complete the project this year, Taylor said: “As Thomson has said, we believe our approach also will serve as a benchmark for the industry -- a reference design, if you will -- against which others can build to assure these set-top boxes provide the level of performance that will serve dealers but also give broadcasters the confidence that their signal is getting through.” Taylor said: “There are plenty of things in the box that aren’t mentioned in the legislation. It’s going to have the V-chip. It’s going to have closed captioning. It’s going to have all the basic things that you have to have with an ATSC receiver not only to be lawful, but to provide utility.” Asked if the 37.5 million $40 vouchers covered by the law’s $1.5 billion allocation will suffice for all households that need them, Taylor said no one knows for sure how many boxes will be needed. With the FCC’s requirement that all TVs shipped after March 1, 2007, must have ATSC tuning, Taylor said, “many of these analog TVs out there that might otherwise require an adapter are just going to be replaced, so the overall population of sets requiring these adapters will shrink by the time they're needed. That being said, there also will be, I think, many American consumers who will not take advantage of the subsidy program. And frankly there will be other products out there that will be well outside of the scope of the subsidy program. There will be those who want to spend not $50, but $100 or $200 for a more full-featured device that does other things.” The $40 voucher is “a good starting place, and I don’t want to sound negative at all about it,” Taylor said. “It’s a program that will help complete this transition in a smooth manner. We're excited that there is a definitive hard date -- that 2009 is something we can all work toward and make sure that consumers are not disenfranchised.”
A smaller, lower power chip for T-DMB TV cellphones is coming from Frontier Silicon, the company said Wed. The Kino 2 chip, to be used in TV-to-mobile devices by Samsung and others, will enable smaller phones with longer battery life and lower cost, the company said. The T-DMB TV-to-cellphone platform is established in S. Korea and has some support in China and India. But Samsung and some operators plan deployment in Germany and Norway this year, for coverage of the World Cup soccer games. The rival DVB-H platform has the edge in European trials for TV broadcasts to handheld mobiles, but T-DMB’s backers are betting it has a shot at a share of market, because the video platform is based on existing DAB digital radio service widely in place in Europe. Cellphones using the Frontier Silicon chip also will receive DAB radio programs, the company said.
Cal. has “effectively banned” digital TV converters by issuing energy efficiency standards for the boxes, the CEA told the Cal. Energy Commission (CEC). In regulations that took effect in Jan., the CEC limited power use by DTV converters sold in the state to 1 w standby and 8 w active. At a CEC workshop last week on industry concerns, CEA urged that the box standard be withdrawn and a separate rulemaking undertaken on future converter boxes. State legislators are increasingly reluctant to include converter boxes in energy standards legislation this year, according to some groups.
Motorola launched its money transfer application, M- Wallet, this week, “eliminating the need to carry a credit or debit card in your wallet,” it said. The application, intended for secure information transfer in retailing, has 2 pieces: (1) An application consumers and merchants download from the Internet. (2) The Wallet Service Center, which allows the operator to manage administration, registration, issuance of credit and debit cards, coupons, archiving, customer profiles and maintenance. A Motorola spokesman told us that in 6-9 months the manufacturer plans to install a near-field communications chip that will allow users to scan phones at stores and elsewhere in place of credit cards.
Both competing standards for mobile TV being discussed in Europe should be developed, said applicants for mobile TV licences in Germany. To start mobile TV services during the upcoming soccer World Cup, German media authorities published calls for tenders for the first mobile TV license based on the Digital Multimedia Bcstg. (DMB) standard. Network operators and hardware companies in Europe focused more on the Digital Video Bcstg.-Handheld (DVB-H) standard, mainly developed by European engineers and standardized at the European Telecom Standards Institute (ETSI).
Carriers expressed limited interest in IBM’s new wireless chipset; most agreed the 60 GHz-band chipset is interesting, and has potential, but few indicated any serious desire to explore using the technology for HDTV or other video deployment. The chip has the ability to process as much as 1.5 Gbps -- a blinding speed that would likely meet wireless HDTV requirements with room to spare -- but only over distances of about 10 meters, and only in the unlicensed, unfamiliar 60 GHz band. An IBM official touted the chipset’s potential and said the manufacturer will partner will other companies to sell final products containing the chipset, a move that could pique carriers’ interest.
Ultra-wideband (UWB) “silicon interoperability” between chipsets by 5 makers was shown at a Jan. workshop, the WiMedia Alliance said. The chipsets studied were by Alereon, Staccato, Realtek Semiconductor, WiQuest and Wisair. Devices with UWB chips are expected on retail shelves this year. “This WiMedia interoperability event marks the first, official recording of devices from different vendors ’talking’ to each other,” said Intel’s Brad Hosler, chmn. of the group’s Certification & Interoperability Committee.