Back in June 2005 Telstra said it would not go ahead with its plans to install an IPTV system from Microsoft and the software supplier made it clear to the market that this was not a decision relating to the delayed Microsoft IPTV solution, but that Telstra’s network architecture just wasn’t up to the job.
Now it seems that new Telstra management thinks that it is, and according to national newspaper the Australian, as many as 13 IPTV suppliers have been asked not only to submit bids for IPTV, but for a quad play version that will include the idea of putting video content on mobile handsets.
When Alcatel was offered an earlier iteration of IPTV in Australia it guided the tier one Telco towards a A$4 billion network upgrade, something that it has done whenever it has talked to major telcos. But Telstra abandoned that network build before much spending had happened at all.
Now Telstra wants to see what IPTV offerings are out there which can also include services to both fixed and mobile from a common platform.
At present Telstra’s content ambitions have been driven through Foxtel, in which it holds a 50% stake, offering a discounted triple play and streamed unicast mobile TV, but is known to be looking further afield and is signing up its own content deals. The operator is not allowed to offer broadcast services, like most telcos the world over, and will likely have its own regulator issues once it decides to go ahead.
Telstra has already pioneered mobile TV through DVB-H trials in Australia and it was always expected that it would bid for the specially created mobile TV spectrum license due shortly. The Australian cites insiders saying that DVB-H doesn’t offer interactivity and that his means Telstra may not bid, instead looking at a multicast service using MBMS from its mobile equipment supplier Ericsson.
This is only likely to be part of the story. Telstra will understand that it is sharing the DVB-H services with others and delivering it to devices other than mobile handsets, with a broadcast DRM that doesn’t allow for a return path through the cellular link.
This has led many cellular operators to pause for thought, except where they are forced into DVB-H service because either a rival or a broadcaster forces their hand. It is probably much the same with Telstra and it might do DVB-H, MBMS or more likely both, with one tightly integrated into its IPTV plan and one supplied by broadcasters.
Nokia and Broadcast Australia are almost certain to continue pushing the DVB-H agenda in Australia and Telstra will almost certainly supporting it, even if it re-casts its own strategy through MBMS.
But on the IPTV side this will mean that a tier one Telco is up for grabs, something that hasn’t happened in a while, and it will almost certainly not consider an Alcatel approach, and that will have attracted a clamor of excitement and overseas suppliers.
Back in 2005 Telstra decided to use a Digital Rights Management system for music from Secure Digital Containers, a Swiss DRM specialist. The system was a move away from OMA compliant DRM, and this has been tipped (see separate article in this issue) to become a core future component in mobile content networks, because it is entirely downloadable. This could be made to work with MBMS, but it would not be effective with DVB-H.