First Demonstration of DVB-SH in North America to Happen at CES

ICO Global Communications and Alcatel-Lucent will demonstrate North America's first video broadcast based on the DVB-SH (Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite services to Handhelds) mobile standard at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next month in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The demonstration is an important step for ICO's initiative to deploy a fully-integrated DVB-SH hybrid satellite/terrestrial network in North America. Alcatel-Lucent, as the end-to-end network integrator for the project, is supplying the system architecture, design and installation for the network.

In the demonstration, ICO and Alcatel-Lucent will deliver mobile high-resolution live television programming to display terminals located in a moving vehicle outfitted with DVB-SH receivers. In addition, ICO will demonstrate high-resolution DVB-SH video reception by delivering pre-encoded content to portable monitors in ICO's exhibit suite.

"This demonstration with ICO gives us the opportunity to showcase the enhanced user experience and reception quality made possible by the improvements which the DVB-SH open standard brings to DVB-H technology and our end-to-end network integration experience," said Olivier Coste, chairman of Alcatel-Lucent's Mobile Broadcast activities.

These demonstrations are the first displays of the advanced solution that is currently being developed for the alpha trial of ICO's future mobile interactive media service, to be known by the name of ICO mim. The mobile interactive media service will combine ICO's interactive satellite capability with nationwide coverage to deliver a new level of interactive navigation, enhanced roadside assistance and multiple channels of high-quality mobile TV to portable devices. The alpha trial of ICO mim will take place in 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, following the launch of the ICO G1 next-generation geostationary satellite scheduled for March 2008.

"CES is a major milestone for ICO as we prepare to launch our satellite in March and commence alpha trials later in 2008," said Tim Bryan, ICO's CEO. "We'll be demonstrating for the first time our compelling mobile video offering, with great picture quality featuring larger screens more suited to a robust mobile video experience."