Intelsat today announced that it was selected by Reti
Radiotelevisive Digitali (RRD) to support the first commercially
available Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) mobile TV
service in Europe, operated by 3 Italia. Launched in June, the
service, called WalkTV, has already attracted over 140,000 clients.
3 Italia is using the IS-905 satellite, located at the 335.5
degrees E orbital location, to broadcast a multiplex of 12 television
channels from the 3 Italia network operations to over 450 UHF
transmitters throughout Italy. The signal is then re-transmitted
terrestrially from the UHF transmitters directly to mobile phones. 3
Italia used capacity on the IS-905 satellite to quickly deploy WalkTV
to terrestrial transmitters, getting the service to market in time to
leverage 3 Italia's exclusive video to mobile rights for the 2006
World Cup soccer matches.
"We needed to get to market quickly and with a reliable offering
for subscribers who were excited about the service, especially because
of Italy's triumph in the World Cup this year," said Antonio Mazzara
at RRD, the company that implemented the 3 Italia DVB-H service. "A
good video to mobile service needs to have a high quality and reliable
transmission, and working with Intelsat for our network helped ensure
our successful market entry without any concerns."
Stephen Spengler, Intelsat's Senior Vice President, Europe,
Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific Sales, stated, "We've been
investing in the development and deployment of cutting-edge IP video
solutions optimized for specific customer needs. We are pleased that
RRD has recognized our expertise in this area by selecting Intelsat to
support this growth application. Intelsat is sitting at the
intersection of cutting edge video, telephony and data applications
and is ideally suited to serve the mobile TV distribution market. We
are already supporting a similar service in the U.S. and we're happy
to have enabled 3 Italia to be the first to commercially market this
service in Europe."
About RRD - Reti Radiotelevisive Digitali
Active in all parts of the mobile TV supply chain, RRD is today
the first company in the market who brought to life the first DVB-H
mobile TV service in the world: the one for the Italian mobile
operator 3. Its experts were the first in Italy and continental Europe
to propose a unique DVB-H Service Centre capable of managing the
convergence between broadcast and mobile. Committed to continuous
innovation, RRD partners and collaborates with the leading players in
the mobile TV field and is in a position to offer totally integrated
systems, compatible with every part of the supply chain, from content
providers to handset manufacturers.
Member, among the others, of the DVB consortium, bmcoForum and
Mobile DTV Alliance, RRD aims to open markets and differentiate them
by using the new opportunities offered by the broadcast standards.
About the New Intelsat
Intelsat is the largest provider of fixed satellite services
worldwide and is the leading provider of these services to each of the
media, network services/telecom and government customer sectors,
enabling people and businesses everywhere constant access to
information and entertainment. Intelsat offers customers a greater
business potential by providing them unrivaled resources with ease of
business and peace of mind. Our services are utilized by an extensive
customer base, including some of the world's leading media and
communications companies, multinational corporations, Internet service
providers and government/military organizations. Real-time, constant
communication with people anywhere in the world is closer, by far.
Intelsat Safe Harbor Statement: Some of the statements in this
news release constitute "forward-looking statements" that do not
directly or exclusively relate to historical facts. The
forward-looking statements made in this release reflect Intelsat's
intentions, plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs about future
events and are subject to risks, including known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of
Intelsat's control. Important factors that could cause actual results
to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in the
forward-looking statements include known and unknown risks. Detailed
information about some of the known risks is included in Intelsat's
quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2006.
Because actual results could differ materially from Intelsat's
intentions, plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs about the
future, you are urged to view all forward-looking statements contained
in this news release with caution. Intelsat does not undertake any
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether
as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
