Mobile TV becomes a reality in South Africa
Just as preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament are gathering momentum in South Africa, the country’s leading mobile telephone operator signaled its intention to lead the market in the Mobile TV area.
MTN South Africa, which is in fact one of the global sponsors of the World
Cup, recently rolled out the first secure commercial mobile TV service in Africa
with the help of Gemalto. The service is based on 3G and DVB-H (Digital Video
Broadcast – Handheld) technology and is available to all MTN South Africa users
with a suitable telephone handset, both on contract and pre-paid. The handsets
chosen for the launch, the Samsung P910 and the Sagem MyMobileTV cellular
phones, offers the functionality of any other 3G handset. The first has a
swiveling LCD screen and double adjusting hinge that rotates into landscape mode
for easy TV viewing. It already enables the subscriber to view mobile TV
services provided on a point-to-point basis by the operator. In addition, its
owner will be able to use the handset to view live broadcast TV when a broadcast
mobile television service using DVB-H technology, currently being tested, is
launched commercially in the near future. This is where Gemalto’s secure
technology will come into its own: it will provide the security building bricks
necessary if the platform is to be a commercial success. The DVB-H trial is
available to users of the P910 in conjunction with a DVB-H enabled USIM
(Universal Subscriber Identity Module, the 3G equivalent of the standard SIM
chips used by GSM networks) supplied by Gemalto. The DVB-H coverage areas are
currently suburbs of Johannesburg, Soweto, Pretoria and Cape Town.
MTN South Africa is part of the MTN Group, a multinational telecommunications
company operating in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. As of Q1 2007,
twelve years after it was launched, the group had over 10 million subscribers in
South Africa and over 41 million subscribers across all of its various
operations. Gemalto’s contribution to this new service includes the supply of
third generation cards as well as consulting services and project management. It
was able to supply the secure USIM platform and complete the project development
in record time. Gemalto took just twelve weeks from qualifying for the contract
to supplying the platform, in easy time for the start of the trial on 1st
October 2006. To do so, it had to mobilize, motivate and coordinate a complete
team related to six different departments to work together and achieve the most
advanced techno delivery ever in all Africa.
MTN’s objectives in the project were to be the first to market mobile TV via DVB-H/3G in Africa and hence maintain its position in the value chain. Its biggest challenge was how to be ‘disruptively innovative’ and retain MTN’s valuable high-end customers. It also wanted to surprise subscriber expectations and to establish strategic partnerships. All this on a platform that is ready for billing. The requirement, of course, was for a fully secure system based around the use of USIM chips.
In order to provide such a service, MTN needed the highest possible level of security. As there are no online checks, a single hacked card is able to compromise the whole system. The method retained was to use Gemalto’s new UpTeq range of mobile TV USIM cards, which can embed various applications, notably the Conditional Access System (CAS), which ensures that each subscriber can only view the programs they are entitled to. Gemalto provides a unique remote management service, which means that software in the USIM can be updated to reflect the changes in users’ rights, for example. Furthermore, security updates can be implemented proactively at any time to prevent hacking attacks, making the system secure over time. This approach has the advantage of providing the best possible security for this class of service and also allowing new services to be introduced after the cards have been issued. “Such a solution enables secure content delivery while ensuring revenues. Benefiting from card control and delivery, mobile operators can position themselves as real m-TV service operators,” explained Christine Caviglioli, Gemalto’s Marketing Manager for Innovative Solutions.
The end user also benefits from this platform. The Gemalto m-TV solution enables end users to watch TV from a suitable mobile phone that supports digital broadcasts. They can access m-TV selected programs with either a standard subscription model or anytime on demand. This makes the service more attractive to new users and helps to keep existing users. It also becomes possible to add interactive services, such as betting, voting and making instant purchases, using the operator’s mobile network for the return path, implementing new business models.