ESPOO, Finland—Nokia Corp. is teaming with Abertis Telecom and Telefonica Moviles Espana on a live mobile TV service in Spain, the companies said this week.
The project, which is backed by regional and local TV channels, will begin broadcasting to 500 mobile users in Madrid and Barcelona in September. The pilot is slated to run through February of next year, coinciding with the closing ceremony of the GSM World Congress 2006 in Barcelona. A test of the service, which uses Digital Video Broadcast for Handheld (DVB-H) technology and is available on the Nokia 7710 smart phone, is already under way.
The pilot will test not only the logistics and quality of mobile broadcasts, but also will serve as a market research tool to measure public interest in wireless TV, the companies said. Commercial services are scheduled to launch early next year.
