Swisscom, the largest mobile operator in Switzerland, together with Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks, launched one of the first mobile TV services in Europe, under the name of Bluewin TV. Available starting mid-May, the new service bring Swiss users a high-quality mobile TV experience, thanks to the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast for Handheld) standard integrated into Nokia's N77 phone.
Bluewin TV offers high-quality video and audio content, allowing users to watch no less than 20 channels on their N77 handsets, including Eurosport and the popular Swiss channels SF1 and TSR1. Moreover, thanks to an easy-navigation key and an electronic TV guide featured by the N77, mobile users can stay updated on all the TV programs they're interested in.
The new service is available for 16 CHF per month (about 10 Euros) or 2 CHF per day and it covers only about 44% of Switzerland's population. Anyway, those who are outside its coverage area, as well as those who don't own a Nokia N77, can still enjoy the service, through the Vodafone! Live portal.
Talking about Bluewin TV and the collaboration with Nokia, Olivier Anthamatten, Head of Strategic Projects at Swisscom Broadcast, said: "With the time constraints of the project, it was essential for Swisscom Broadcast to rely on one partner offering a solution based on open standards which can guarantee the end-to-end interoperability of the whole solution, from the DVB-H back-end system to the mobile devices."
Although the N77 is not quite a new phone, being released about one year ago, it's one of the few handsets in Europe to support DVB-H. But this will change shortly, with the launch of N96, Nokia's new Nseries flagship, which offers a wider display and faster data transfer speeds, hence it will be a perfect handset for viewing TV programs while on the go.
After Swisscom, Nokia and Nokia Siemens will soon bring DVB-H services to other operators around the globe, in countries like Finland, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.
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