MELBOURNE, Australia-I am window shopping when my mobile phone alerts me I have a message. Reading it, I learn the store I am standing in front of has a sale on men’s underwear. Forever in need of a new pair of boxer shorts, I head inside to check the savings out.
Welcome to the world of cell broadcast-where retailers will be able to advertise regularly on your mobile when you are within a stone’s throw of their store by sending out text messages across one or more cells of a digital phone network.
Australia’s largest communications company, Telstra Corp., is the first to try the commercial possibilities out, launching a two-city trial of its cell broadcast service. Telstra’s three-month trial in Melbourne and Sydney will broadcast free news, sports and weather bulletins provided by Australia’s Seven TV network. But cell broadcast essentially offers almost limitless opportunities to peddle information. While Telstra will use the trial to assess customer demand and commercial interest, the company believes the service is likely to find most interest among businesses, such as retailers, tourist operators and petrol stations, which would pay a fee to advertise to shoppers and motorists in the vicinity.
“While the trial will broadcast news, sports and weather, cell broadcast makes the delivery of virtually any information message across the mobile network possible,” said Telstra’s Jonathan Marchbank, managing director of mobiles.
“It would be possible to broadcast traffic conditions over cells along a particular freeway, or a national announcement across the entire mobile network.”
The trial in Melbourne is being conducted in a fashionable suburb close to the city, while the Sydney trial is in the central business district. The two areas were selected for trial because of the high penetration of mobile phones and concentration of specialist shopping, cafes and restaurants.
Cell broadcast is possible under the GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) standard. For now, it allows for information broadcasts of up to 83 characters.
Under the trial, cell broadcast works by Seven TV placing news items on an FTP site outside its firewall. Telstra then sends the information to base station controllers, which broadcast over the target cells. To receive the service, phone users must have a compatible digital phone and make sure the cell broadcast function is on and tuned to the correct channel.
Cell broadcasting differs from paging or other subscriber-based services in that text messages are cast across a cell coverage area rather than directed to nominated customers.
Down the track, the service will allow customers to tune into one of many channels to access a range of information services being broadcast in their local area. Telstra envisions a more automated system in which service providers upload information for broadcasting on different channels. They then would erect signs near their business to let digital phone users know on which channel they are broadcasting.
