WASHINGTON-Hiwire, a newly minted subsidiary of Aloha Partners L.P., is planning to join competitors MediaFlo and Modeo L.L.C. in offering mobile TV using dedicated spectrum.
Aloha Partners, backed by several wealthy investors with histories in cable and wireless infrastructure, has been buying 700 MHz spectrum (TV channels 54 and 59) and is ready to put the spectrum to use. The company claims to be the nation’s largest 700 MHz spectrum holder with an average of 12 megahertz of spectrum covering 60 percent of the U.S., including holdings in the top 10 markets and 84 percent of the population in the top 40 markets.
Hiwire is testing Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld technology in Las Vegas, and plans to roll it out commercially later this year. Eventually, Hiwire expects to spend about $500 million to deploy mobile TV in the top 150 markets, said Scott Wills, Hiwire president and chief operating officer.
Hiwire is set to compete with Qualcomm Inc.’s MediaFlo service and Crown Castle International Corp. subsidiary Modeo, each of which is planning to build out dedicated mobile TV networks. Like Modeo, which also plans to use the same DVB-H technology, Hiwire has yet to score a carrier contract. Verizon Wireless has committed to deploying MediaFlo service.
Hiwire’s Wills said he is not worried he will let his investors down. “The beauty is that we have very high net-worth people, but also patient people that know how long it takes to build out infrastructure.”
And while Hiwire may be a newcomer, it comes to the playground well-heeled. Its half-billion-dollar investment matches what Crown Castle expects to spend building out its network, and approaches Qualcomm’s expected $800 million outlay.
In conjunction with the Hiwire announcement, Aloha is expected to announce it has signed an agreement with SeS Americom to obtain content for the service. SeS Americom, a subsidiary of SeS Global, delivers content to cable operators and has agreements with wireline carriers. It is also entering the wireless space.
“We have all of these signals in Internet-protocol format ready for distribution. We have already made the investment and we have the relationship with the programmers,” said Bryan McGuirk, president of media solutions for SeS Americom. “We have deals with a number of wireline companies and now we are moving to the wireless.”
DVB-H technology has been tested in Europe and the United States, and Nokia Corp. already offers a phone with a DVB-H chip. Indeed, Wills said the Nokia phone is configured to work on TV channels 54 and 59. Texas Instruments Inc. and even Qualcomm also have said they plan to make chips for the DVB-H market.
“Qualcomm is the CDMA manufacturer and my guess is that the CDMA carriers will embrace MediaFlo because it will be embedded. My suspicion will be that DVB-H will be a logical migration for GSM carriers in the United States,” said Charlie Townsend, chief executive officer of Aloha Partners.
Hiwire will face long odds if it can’t score at least one deal with a Tier 1 carrier, though. Operators won’t embrace any video service that leaves them out of the revenue chain, and deck placement is sure to be key to gaining mass-market adoption in the early days of mobile video.
Next-generation mobile TV is touted as being superior to the current video clips and live feeds available by carriers offering third-generation services to their customers today. While today’s broadcasts generally average 10 to 15 frames per second, services expected to come to market later this year are likely to double those figures, approaching-or even matching-home television quality.
An important component of the next-generation mobile TV offerings is that they are offered on dedicated networks-an area where Hiwire believes its offering will be superior. Like MediaFlo, Hiwire plans to operate in the 700 MHz band once it is cleared as part of the broadcast TV transition to digital service. But unlike MediaFlo, which is planned for Qualcomm’s nationwide license of TV channel 55 or six megahertz of spectrum, Hiwire has access to 12 megahertz of spectrum. The 700 MHz band is considered the beach-front spectrum real estate and more preferable to Modeo’s 1600 MHz spectrum.
While proponents of next-generation mobile TV services claim this is what consumers are clamoring for, others are not so sure consumers will embrace mini-TV, even if it is mobile.
RCR Wireless News Reporter Colin Gibbs contributed to this report.
