GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) which represents GSM/EDGE, WCDMA-HSPA and LTE suppliers has released the 2nd issue of LTE Broadcast (LTE Multicast) market status report confirming that a growing number of operators are studying and trialling eMBMS-enabled LTE Broadcast (also known as LTE Multicast). GSA reports at least 19 mobile network operators in Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, UAE, UK and the USA, in collaboration with LTE systems providers and broadcast content owners, are deploying, trialling or studying LTE Broadcast technology.
LTE Broadcast service which was first commercially launched by KT in South Korea in January 2014 has one of the key new features of 3GPP LTE Release 9 specifications known as evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS), which supports all specified bandwidths and formats of LTE, including FDD and TDD modes and LTE-Advanced carrier aggregation.
According to GSA, by using LTE Broadcast enabled by evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS) technology, operators can manage network assets more efficiently by multicasting popular content sought by multiple subscribers, e.g. live TV broadcasts, or tailored content for sporting events in stadiums or other venues. Operators can utilise off-peak capacity to deliver new service offerings, which could include rich media caching, or managed software updates including applications updates, added GSA.
"GSA expects eMBMS support will be embedded in all smartphones in the coming years, and in any device containing LTE chipsets and modems such as connected cars, digital signage/billboards, etc.”
- Alan Hadden, President of the GSA