Japan makes mobile TV plans

Japanese CDMA carrier KDDI said today it would set up a small joint venture with Qualcomm to explore the possibility of creating a forward access link multicast TV network in Japan to parallel the network Qualcomm is launching in the U.S. this year.

The initial investment is small--only 10 million yen (U.S. $85,800)--but if the venture moves forward it could result in Qualcomm’s second major deal for FLO technology. Earlier this month, the world’s largest CDMA carrier, Verizon Wireless, announced it would be the first operator to use Qualcomm’s MediaFLO network or stream real-time TV and cached content to its subscribers.

The KDDI deal comes on the heels of NTT DoCoMo’s announcement Wednesday of a $176 million investment in Fuji Television Network for its own digital television broadcasts to mobile phones. Fuji, Japan’s largest broadcaster, and other media companies are expected to launch mobile TV services using integrated services digital broadcasting-terrestrial (ISDB-T) technology, the same format used by Japanese broadcasters to deliver digital TV to the home.

By using the same networks, the same spectrum and much of the same programming, ISDB-T achieves far greater economies of scale, but the technology doesn’t have the same flexibility as the other mobile TV standards optimized specifically for mobile. Qualcomm’s FLO and Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld--backed by GSM vendors--both promise dozens of low-power channels, many of which can be optimized to cache content on the handset, allowing customers to view specific programming at any time. The technologies, however, would both require separate terrestrial networks, requiring millions in additional investment.