Qualcomm has announced a trial of its MediaFlo mobile TV solution in Malaysia, where the vendor will be partnering with leading Malaysian operator Maxis Communications and TV network Astro.

The trial is scheduled to begin in the Autumn of this year, and will feature 25 live content channels from Astro. The service will also offer short clips that can be stored on the handset and viewed at a later date, an option that Qualcomm has dubbed Clipcasting.

Maxis and Astro are investigating the potential for deployment of a commercial mobile TV broadcast service in 2008 and are using the trial to evaluate the performance of Qualcomm’s solution against competing technologies.

“Maxis is an innovative leader at the forefront of delivering new products and services to our customers,” said Jon Eddy Abdullah, chief operating officer, Maxis Communications Berhad. “Already, we offer more than 20 TV channels on 3G, and we see great mass market potential for a high-quality mobile TV broadcast technology such as MediaFLO.  As such, we are committed to offering mobile TV to the Malaysian market.  Through this trial, we will assess the business and technical performance of MediaFLO and the promise of a compelling user experience with easy access and fast channel switching.”

“Maxis and Astro represent strong allies for a MediaFlo trial in Malaysia because of their combined expertise and market penetration,” said Peggy Johnson, president, Qualcomm Internet Services and MediaFlo Technologies. “This trial will demonstrate both the exceptional performance of the MediaFloplatform in a real world setting and the substantial business benefits that the technology provides as we work towards commercial deployment in the region.”