French manufacturer Alcatel has teamed up with Sth Korean manufacturer Samsung to launch handsets for its mobile TV solution, which uses a high powered geo-stationary satellite to cover territory in the S-Band and a series of cheap, low-powered repeaters to get the signal to the handset. “The agreement will initially cover Europe, where the S-Band is now available for DVB-H, Alcatel said.” As far as I’m aware Alcatel’s system isn’t in use anywhere, but it has the benefit over other late arrivals to the mobile TV standards race (such as China’s effort) that it is compatible with other DVB-H standards (UHF). The press release is here.
A couple of satellite companies have also become involved. “SES Global and Eutelsat Communications, two major satellite operators, said they would create a 50- 50 joint venture to share the costs for a new service to broadcast television and radio programs to mobile phones” (PDF), and this will be used in Alcatel’s service (PDF). We posted on this earlier today.