Telstra and Ericsson LTE-Broadcast enhances mobile video customer experience

Telstra and Ericsson have teamed up for Australia's LTE-Broadcast (LTE-B) to further enhance the mobile video customer experience. It will be available initially on select Samsung devices in 2017.

“99% of Telstra’s 4GX sites are already LTE-B capable, with the intention to have nationwide enablement and coverage for LTE-B by 2018," Telstra’s Group Managing Director Networks Mike Wright said in a statement. "Telstra’s LTE-B product roadmap will include 24 x 7 linear streaming, live sports coverage beyond stadiums, pre-loading of popular content, news clips and games highlights. We plan on enabling LTE-B across many devices, and are excited to deliver an enhanced mobile experience to our customers," Wright said.

LTE-B addressed the issue about low quality, streamed media especially in high traffic areas. Usually, customers experienced buffering during streaming due to fluctuations in latency. When LTE-B is applied to the service, the highest quality and audio experience for broadcast will be achieved. The technique would consume a constant bitrate data channel. It does not affect the quality of video and audio regardless of how many subscribers are watching the broadcast.

Session Continuity and Dynamic Switching would be introduced by November 2017 to ensure a cost-efficient model and consistent experience. Session Continuity aimed to maintain a seamless video streaming experience and to allow customers to move between unicast and broadcast areas.

“This technology will be crucial to improving the LTE-B experience for our customers. For instance, when network capacity becomes limited and multiple users are consuming the same content, the MooD capability can shift the transmission to broadcast,” said Wright. Dynamic Switching also called as Multicast Operation on Demand or Mood allows to shift transmissions between unicast and broadcast depending on load.

Head of Media Solutions at Ericsson Elisabetta Romano said that they are working closely with Telstra to deploy new technologies helping Telstra’s business. "In collaboration with Expway, Ericsson is enabling Telstra to perform interoperability testing for session continuity and MooD features with production pilot in 2017. Our solutions enable Telstra to collaborate to deliver seamless connectivity and service continuity with LTE-Broadcast, with scale and great quality of experience," Romano said.

Telstra selected Ericsson to support Telstra's Network of the Future transformation program. The program included deployment of Australia's largest Internet of Things (IoT) network, 5G New Radio trials, nationwide optical network transformation and expansion and the creation of a media delivery cloud complementing the Telco Cloud project.

“Ericsson is working closely with Telstra to deliver next-generation technologies in each key area of Telstra’s network," Head of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand Emilio Romero said. "Starting with the nationwide optical network, to advancing mobile networks with 5G radio trials, and progressing the shift to cloud network functionality and enabling new specialized workloads; together we are putting the network fundamentals in place for Telstra’s Network of the Future program," Romero said.