It’s not too much of a surprise that Expway has had its electronic services guide chosen for the Hiwire DVB-H trail in Las Vegas. The deal has been placed by Reti Radiotelevisive Digitali (RRD) which is responsible for running the Hiwire trial. Expway was at the heart of the handset software in both of the Italian DVB-H services already launched.
Expway FastESG is a system that not only allows for an Elecronic Program Guide on a DVB-H service, but also allows for the promotion of services by cellular operator partners from the same platform.
We have long believed that Hiwire was a fake trial, believing instead that its owner Aloha partners, traditionally a spectrum trader, is really trying to cement the value of its two channels of UHF spectrum, so that its spectrum will be acquired by someone that wants to genuinely build a mobile TV service. Given that it has twice as much spectrum as both MediaFLO and Crown Castle’s Modeo, and it is in far better spectrum than Modeo’s, any mobile TV service built around Hiwire would have strong chances in the US. But because both Modeo and Hiwire have delayed and been unable to attract a cellular partner in the US, this means that Qualcomm’s MediaFLO already has over a one year lead in the market.
The Hiwire trial will take place in Las Vegas and the company says that a major wireless carrier will be participating to the consumer trial. We expect that this is T-Mobile, which has long been associated with the trial, and which has 25 million US customers and which has just acquired a huge chunk of cellular spectrum in the recent AWS auctions.
RRD is the platform provider retained by Hiwire for deploying its DVB-H trial that comprises SES Americom for network infrastructure and satellite links, LG Electronic for DVB-H phones, and Expway for the ESG. Expway says that it will also be offering Hiwire its next generation FastESG v3 which allow Interactive services and advertising.