The cooperation between TD-SCDMA and CMMB is the beginning of the cooperation between telecom operators and broadcasting operators.
Shanghai. April 17. INTERFAX-CHINA - In the latest Interfax TMT guest column, telecom analyst Dr. Cheng Dejie looks at the relationship between telecom operators and broadcasting operators in China, and argues that cooperation is the only choice for the two parties if they wish to advance in the 3G era. Translated from the original Chinese by Zhang Danwei.
Around the end of 2008, a piece of news attracted widespread attention. According to an announcement by the China Telecommunication Technology Labs under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Coolpad and Hisense became the first companies to be awarded telecom network access licenses for handsets that combined the TD-SCDMA 3G standard and the CMMB mobile TV standard.
The key point is not which companies were the first to get the license for such products, but the news following it: in order to promote the commercialization of TD-SCDMA, the only CMMB handsets that MIIT would grant network access licenses to were those that combined CMMB with TD-SCDMA. In other words, handsets that combine CMMB and telecom standards other than TD-SCDMA, such as GSM and CDMA, were barred from receiving network access licenses.
MIIT's announcement aroused the question as to which standard, TD-SCDMA or CMMB, needed the other the most in this pairing.
To answer this question, we have to first analyze the relationship between the telecom party behind TD-SCDMA and the broadcasting party behind CMMB.
The separate development of the telecom and broadcasting industries in the fixed-line era
In the fixed-line era before 3G, telecom operators and the broadcasting operators were totally dominant in their own areas. Telecom operators constructed the nationwide networks for voice service and data transmission, while broadcasting operators established the nationwide cable TV network and had total control of content and distribution.
If telecom operators wished to provide video services, they needed to do so in cooperation with the holder of a broadcasting operating license, while broadcasting operators needed the permission of telecom operators if they wanted to provide voice or Internet services.
Due to their dominance of their own areas, telecom operators and broadcasting operators seldom cooperated, and conflict between the two camps was common. As a result, exploration of the huge emerging market of network convergence was severely hampered.
In other countries, the convergence between telecom networks and broadcasting networks has almost been completed, to the point where there is no great difference between a "telecom operator" and a "broadcasting operator".
However, in China, even after the release of the 2008 No.1 document from the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China (a part of which advocates network convergence), there has been no great response from either camp.
Telecom operators and broadcasting operators need each other in the 3G era
Due to the saturation of both the fixed-line voice market and the cable TV market, telecom operators and broadcasting operators have to change their business structures and look for new areas in which to profit. The start of 3G services and mobile TV service provides a good chance for telecom operators and broadcasting operators to form some real kind of cooperation.
Telecom operators' revenue mainly comes from voice services and Internet access services. With the popularity of some new Internet application such as VoIP and Skype, revenues from traditional voice services are declining, while the popularity of YouTube shows the potential market for online video services. As a response to the situation, telecom operators are moving towards becoming Internet content providers.
On the other hand, although broadcasting operators have done a good job with the country's digital TV migration, the saturated urban market and the huge costs they incurred upgrading cable networks are forcing these operators to find new business models.
Unlike analog TV, digital TV signals can be received clearly and stably by moving terminals, allowing for truly mobile broadcasting services.
The need by both telecom operators and broadcasting operators to begin offering video services, and the inevitable overlaps in content that could occur, have finally resulted in cooperation between the two parties.
Another reason for the cooperation is the respective weakness of the two parties.
For telecom operators, although the telecom network-based mobile TV standards MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) designed for WCDMA and TD-SCDMA and BCMCS (Broadcast Multicast Service) designed for CDMA2000 can enable telecom operators to provide mobile TV services through their base stations, such services will be limited by the small telecom spectrum band. As such, mobile TV services based on these standards will be very expensive for end-users, especially in densely-populated areas. Moreover, the transmission of videos via these services will use the channels for mobile Internet, and affect mobile Internet users.
The different spectrum bands for telecom use and for broadcasting use have their own set upload channels and download channels. Broadcasting operators have the advantage when it comes to number of download channels, however, the relatively low number of upload channels creates weakness - the spectrum they have is naturally good for broadcasting programs. Conversely, telecom operators have the advantage when it comes to upload channels - useful for video on demand and other interactive services. These complements in spectrum allocation have become the driving force behind the cooperation between telecom operators and broadcasting operators.
TD-SCDMA/CMMB terminals the start of cooperation between telecom and broadcasting operators
The problem faced by the cooperation of TD-SCDMA and CMMB and between telecom operator and broadcaster is how to use each other's advantages to provide better services for users.
The combination of CMMB and TD-SCDMA capabilities into a single handset has been the initial stage in such cooperation.
However, there is still a long way to go for the two parties. Firstly, the division of both workload and revenue needs be discussed. This is the pre-requisite for cooperation.
Secondly, new services that take advantage of network convergence are a must. Services such as mobile stock market information and mobile music will give a tighter link between the two parties.
Thirdly, real terminal convergence is necessary. At present, TD-SCDMA/CMMB handsets use independent TD-SCDMA chipsets and CMMB chipsets. These are not truly converged terminals, and they also suffer from high cost, inefficient power consumption and a lack of cohesiveness when it comes to operation.
Lastly, more research into the convergence of telecom networks and broadcasting networks is necessary. The combination of separate networks with different standards and different technologies will cause many problems during cooperation between telecom operators and broadcasters. The two parties can try to firstly make some breakthroughs in system convergence, such as billing systems, electronic content guides and multi-media information platforms.
Although there will be many problems, the experience of foreign operators shows us that network convergence is the natural direction of the market.
The cooperation between TD-SCDMA and CMMB is the beginning of the cooperation between telecom operators and broadcasting operators, of which they have no choice with the advent of the 3G era.
The above is a personal opinion piece by the author. Its publication in no way implies that Interfax shares the views expressed in the article.
About the author: Dr. Cheng Dejie, a graduate of the telecommunication and information engineering department of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, was once involved in several state projects related to telecom equipment development. He is now working as a senior analyst in Sichuan Communication Research Planning & Designing Co. Ltd. His research areas include next generation networks, mobile communication, telecom network evolution, telecom network planning, network access technologies, information securities and P2P applications. His blog is located at http://blog.sina.com.cn/teletech
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