Five leading cell phone makers unite to bring out new technology

Mobile television will be a widespread service by the end of 2005

Television programs will soon be possible to watch on cell phone screens. World's five leading cellular makers – Motorola, Nec, Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson – decided to bring the new service to the masses in near future.

Cellular television will be fundamentally different from conventional television. In order to watch a movie on a cell phone, there will be no need to use an antenna. A compact digital television signal will be transmitted in a cellular network and then played in a telephone with the help of a special program.

Cell phone television is not a new service in Russia. One of Russian leading cellular operators broadcast a TV program on a cell phone at Svyaz-Inform exhibition of communication in 2003. Mobile television is already available on the Russian market, although the number of subscribers is rather low due to slow speed.

Cellular makers lay their hopes on cell networks of the third generation (3G). The new networks are characterized with a faster connection speed. The 3G networks already operate in Japan and several European countries, although the service will be widely spread by the end of 2005 only.

Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson want to set up a joint technological standard of mobile television, to make their own products and sell licenses for the use of technology to other manufacturers – Samsung or LG, for example, which were not included in the 'cellular alliance.' The union of the five companies will also be a serious problem for software producers, especially for Microsoft and Real Networks, whose programs are already being used in cell phones for broadcasting TV programs.