Smart trials LTE multicast in Philippines

Filipino operator Smart Communications said it has conducted the first successful video multicast over LTE is in Southeast Asia. When the service comes to market, Smart believes that the technology will allow consumers in the Philippines to watch lag-free live video on their LTE smartphones and tablets.

The operator teamed up with infrastructure vendor Huawei for the LTE multicast trial, which was the world’s first such trial to be conducted over 2.1 GHz frequency, according to the Chinese firm.

The evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS) is an emerging technology that delivers rich multimedia content, such as live video, to a large number of consumers efficiently. The content is transmitted by LTE-capable cell stations to mobile devices. The eMBMS is also suitable for delivering pre-loaded content such as news, music, software, ads and other data to a mass audience, Smart Communications added.

For the pilot multicast, Smart streamed pre-loaded videos on three channels from its base station in Quezon City to another base station in Makati. They were aired seamlessly on three LTE handsets provided by Huawei, as well as a smart TV set equipped with LTE connectivity.

“As the forerunner of LTE technology in the country, Smart is proud to hit a new milestone for the country and blaze the trail for eMBMS, which extends the capabilities of our robust LTE infrastructure.” said Smart and PLDT technology group head Roland Peña.” Among many things, this successful trial shows the readiness of our network to deliver the services of the future,”

According to the operator, the successful trial puts Smart’s network at par with industry leaders Verizon in the United States and Telstra in Australia, which have both kicked off trials on their LTE networks.