CMMB Vision to Acquire
New Satellite Capacity,
Launch Mobile Multimedia
Services Throughout Asia
September 10, 2014
CMMB Vision Holdings of
Hong Kong announced
today that it has
partnered with an
affiliated U.S.-based
company and entered into
a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) to
acquire capacity on two
new satellites that will
provide mobile
multimedia services to
China and other Asian
markets.
The U.S. affiliate, New
York Satellite Holdings,
LLC (NYSH), which is a
subsidiary of
New York Broadband II,
recently acquired the
AsiaStar satellite at
the 105 degrees East
orbital slot, and its
associated L-band
spectrum rights. An RFI
has been issued to
satellite manufacturers
to build the first of
two replacement
satellites, which will
be
contracted within 2014
and launched by early
2017. The second
satellite, to be
colocated with the first
one, will be ordered
before the end of 2015.
The satellites will be
equipped with next
generation technologies
such as high-power,
interactive and
broadcast-unicast
convergence to render
unprecedented mobile
multimedia and Internet
services directly to all
mobile users never
available before.
NYSH will own and
operate these
spacecraft, and CMMB
Vision is expected to
lease
100% of their capacity
for the mobile
multimedia services in
China and other parts of
Asia.
The Company has also
announced that it has
entered into an MOU with
a leading
Chinese State-level
media group to develop
and operate
satellite-based mobile
multimedia services
nationwide in China.
CMMB believes it can
quickly reach
commercial operation
given China’s huge
internal mobile media
and Internet service
demand, vast and
low-cost mobile
ecosystem, and
government support. A
trial network
in Beijing is being
established currently.
The founder and
president of CMMB Vision
is Charles (Chau-Chi)
Wong, an American
educated Hong Kong
entrepreneur who will
facilitate the raising
of the financial
resources required to
develop and operate the
mobile multimedia
service.
The company’s chief
technology officer is
Dr. Hui Liu, the
American scientist who
developed the Converged
Mobile Multimedia
Broadcast (CMMB)
standard that has been
officially adopted by
Chinese regulators for
mobile hand-held
television. (In China,
the
standard is called
“China Mobile Multimedia
Broadcast.”). Dr. Liu is
also the principal
developer for TD-SCDMA
(China 3G), OFDMA/LTE,
and the Next Generation
Broadcasting-Wireless
(NGB-W), which is the
next generation of CMMB.
“CMMB is the emerging
global standard for next
generation mobile video
and broadcast
services because it
allows for faster and
more efficient delivery
of multimedia and
Internet data,” said
Wong. “With the capacity
from these new
satellites, our users
will be able to enjoy
unlimited mobile video
viewing and data
downloads anytime,
anywhere at a fraction
of current mobile data
costs. Through the
efficiencies of
broadcasting, the cost
of delivery of
programming is between
$0.01 and $0.05 per GB,
compared to $10 to $15
per GB for mobile
multimedia services
using cellular networks.
Thousands of HD movies
and hundreds of
thousands of songs can
be downloaded to each
user everyday at a
fraction of current
mobile data cost and
without traffic.”
The CMMB standard is
similar to Europe's
DVB-SH standard for
digital video
broadcasting from both
satellites and
terrestrial repeaters to
handheld devices. Mobile
television delivery
using the CMMB standard
via terrestrial networks
is already
widespread in China,
with service in over 350
cities. The service
began during the 2008
Beijing Olympics and has
since grown to over 50
million devices in use,
manufactured
by such major companies
as Samsung, Motorola,
LG, HTC, and Huawei.
Evolving from the CMMB
standard, the Company in
partnership with SARFT
of China
has developed the Next
Generation Broadcasting
– Wireless (NGB-W)
standard as well
as its convergence with
4G/LTE so as to unify
the power of
broadcasting with the
interactive flexibility
of unicasting. Popular
and common data will be
intelligently
delivered to the mass
market via the broadcast
platform while
individualized content
will
be delivered over the
unicast platform,
thereby optimizing
traffic delivery. Such
hybrid
technology is essential
for coping with the
anticipated explosive
demand in the coming
mobile multimedia era.
And when combined with a
satellite platform, the
capacity of such a
network will be vastly
increased, allowing for
exponential growth in
the number of
subscribers, expected to
increase a thousand-fold
in the next decade.
The Company is working
with NYSH, which will
deploy next generation
high-power Lband
satellites that will
adopt the company’s
CMMB/NGB-W technology
for broadcast
downlink and s-LTE for
unicast return
interactivity.
Space Partnership
International LLC of
Bethesda, MD, has been
engaged to assist
NYSH with matters
related to the project
planning, procurement of
satellites and launch
services as well as
insurance, service
development and
regulatory activities.
The Company views China
as its flagship market,
where its partnerships
with
government and private
enterprises will create
the world’s first
convergent satellite
platform. The ecosystem
of satellite-compatible
devices is expected to
develop quickly
by leveraging the
existing vast and mature
CMMB-compatible supply
chain.
Diverse services are
being planned, which
include universal mobile
entertainment and
data delivery;
end-to-end content
delivery solutions for
mobile carriers and
over-the-top
providers; logistics and
media services for motor
vehicles, ships, and
planes; and public
services such as remote
education, safety
monitoring, and
emergency alerts.
The Company intends to
replicate the Chinese
model with turnkey
solutions to deploy in
other Asia markets. It
is It is negotiating
MOUs with agencies in
Indonesia and India for
potential collaboration.
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