Vodafone makes first live LTE broadcast in Europe

Vodafone Germany has become the first European carrier to conduct live tests with LTE Broadcast .

The trial, in collaboration with Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies and Samsung, took place at Borussia Mönchengladbach’s stadium on February 22nd, when they played 1899 Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga, Advanced TV reports.

LTE Broadcast – also known as evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS) – puts no additional load on the network, enabling smartphone users in device dense locations to watch TV channels in high quality.

The service uses Single Frequency Network technology (like DVB-T) to distribute the signal to an unlimited number of recipients. The user only needs an LTE-enabled device with an LTE Broadcast app.

“There is growing demand for high quality video content on mobile devices and LTE Broadcast gives our customers a brand new mobile media experience,” said Eric Kuisch, CTO Vodafone Germany. “This technology enables multiple broadcast sessions to be viewed simultaneously, so our customers will be able to watch Sky’s Premiere League Summary or exclusive video content from the stadium they’re in.”

“This first test in Europe is an important milestone for the European mobile telecommunications sector. LTE Broadcast will soon be delivering unlimited TV or video content to people in device dense places such as stadiums, public viewing areas or shopping centers,” said Thomas Norén, Head of Product Area Radio.