032907: Globe eyes mobile, Net TV to spur wireless business

By Lennie Lectura

Reporter

GLOBE Telecom is looking at mobile and Internet television services—a growing segment of the eIndustry in the United States and already a reality in Europe where 3G speeds are in the trilobites—to spur growth of its wireless business that, like other telecoms, is apparently saddled with the slow growth of the usual 3G services like MP3 and streaming downloads. At a press briefing after the company’s stockholders’ meeting, company president Gerardo Ablaza said these new services are all elements of new media the cellular firm would like to explore. “There are new opportunities arising in those sectors. These could possibly include mobile TV and IPTV. We would like to start exploring that area more.”   No other details were immediately available, such as, whether the cellular firm would partner with a television station to source content. Ablaza only said that Globe does not need to acquire a broadcast firm to have access to content. Right now, there is a commercial partnership with some TV stations to enable Globe to access content and offer it to subscribers via video streaming. Rival Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., through Nation Broadcasting Corp., a unit of MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., is already on a pilot test of mobile TV service. Mobile TV differs from video streaming offered in 3G networks because it is not transmitted through the cellular network. It is a broadcast service that delivers content to many viewers simultaneously through a digital TV broadcast signal optimized for mobile devices—very much like the way a conventional TV service delivers a TV signal to homes. Programs on mobile TV can be viewed simultaneously by an unlimited number of subscribers, making it the ideal medium for real-time  sports events, breaking news or live entertainment in any place—by the sea, in the mountain, on the farm, etc.

 

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