ZTE Completes Industry's First MBMS Multicast Service Testing with Qualcomm

2007-9-10
10 September 2007, Shenzhen, China - ZTE Corporation ("ZTE"), a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, today revealed that it has successfully completed an MBMS Multicast Service testing based on 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) R6 standard conducted at its Shanghai Research and Development Center last month in collaboration with Qualcomm. The testing is the first MBMS Multicast Service IOT (Inter-Operability Test) ever completed in the industry, considered a major breakthrough in extending MBMS' existing function to provide broadcast services only.

The test results show that 128 and 256kbit/s high-speed transmission of MBMS television programs broadcast and multicast services can be smoothly delivered over cellular networks. The success of MBMS Multicast Service IOT marks the readiness of commercial delivery to the mass market.

"This is certainly a strategic collaboration between ZTE and Qualcomm, two companies with proven track records in the wireless sector," said Fang Hui, ZTE's General Manager of WCDMA Products. "We have been dedicated to the R&D of WCDMA systems for around 10 years and all our solutions have passed industry standards. The success of the industry's first MBMS Multicast Service IOT further proves that we have WCDMA products that meet our customers' wireless communications requirements."

"Qualcomm is happy to co-operate with ZTE in conducting the MBMS testing, an area which we believe is part of the core development of ZTE's WCDMA products," said Frank Meng, President of Qualcomm Greater China. "This is a major contribution in the development of MBMS and we are confident that the results of the testing will help our customers provide more competitive WCDMA products and solutions moving forward."

MBMS, falling into two modes - multimedia broadcast and multicast service, is a simple, fast, and easy-to-deploy mobile multimedia service application solution that helps operators save on network deployment costs in developing and offering mobile TV and other multimedia services. Its multicast mode, is said to be a more effective and flexible way of delivering media services. With concerted efforts by various industry players to rapidly develop MBMS solutions, multimedia services such as advertising, TV programs, MMS, and similar services will soon be readily available over various cellular networks to small terminals such as handsets.

Since the standardization process began, ZTE has been investing in MBMS R&D. As an active member of 3GPP, ZTE has included MBMS in its long-term product roadmap. The company's aggressive R&D collaboration and customer-oriented marketing strategy has resulted in the deployment of ZTE WCDMA products in more than 20 countries and regions worldwide.