China Mobile Deploys Enhanced Internet TV Services

China Mobile Taking on the Challenge of Cross-Border OTT Videos
   The explosive growth in mobile network bandwidth has changed the entertainment habits of customers. Video and other data services can be totally carried through high bandwidth. Cisco forecasted that IP video services will account for more than 78% of IP traffic by 2018. Ovum claimed that mobile internet services sever the strong relationship between users and operators and do not contribute much to operator revenue. The situation is worsening in the LTE era and mobile operators face huge challenges. A shortfall in revenue from traffic, closed telecom architecture, traditional telecom service modes, tediously long service flows, and inflexible organizations cannot meet the demand of internet services.
Mobile OTT promotes the cross-border competition, and its open capability platform provides various services, enabling operators to seize the market of mobile service portals. After obtaining a fixed-network license in 2013, China Mobile sped up broadband construction. It aimed to deploy internet TV services to increase the added value and competitiveness of broadband and compete with China Telecom head-to-head on “broadband + IPTV.” At the end of 2013, China Mobile released a new brand strategy “And Family” and planned to develop 10 million internet TV subscribers in 2014. China Mobile began to commercially deploy internet TV services in each province in China in early 2014.

Excellent Product Performance Making ZTE a Partner of China Mobile
ZTE was one of the first to be invited by China Mobile to discuss and formulate OTT specifications. In March 2014, commissioned by China Mobile Zhejiang (Zhejiang Mobile) for OTT bidding, China Mobile Beijing Institute invited some vendors to carry out CDN system centralized tests in Beijing. ZTE ranked first in various tests on delivery speed, total test score, interoperability debugging, commissioning test and product density. ZTE’s standard 4U cabinet supports 70 3.5-inch hard disks that are denser than similar products. The CDN system centralized tests showed that ZTE made thorough preparations for China Mobile providing internet TV services in specific provinces.
ZTE cooperated with multiple licensees and content providers such as BesTV, CCTV, WASU, and State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television. ZTE assisted China Mobile to integrate industrial chains by introducing content and implementing systems online in each province. ZTE also helped Sichuan Mobile, Anhui Mobile and Jiangsu Mobile complete pilot projects. The compatibility and stablility of ZTE’s systems were recognized by these customers, as was the speed with which ZTE rolled the systems out. All systems ran smoothly during Spring Festival 2014. ZTE completed the Sichuan Mobile pilot project in just over a month. For Anhui Mobile, ZTE delivered key equipment and completed system debugging, docking and commercial cutover in only ten days.
Because of ZTE’s support for China Mobile’s OTT projects, ZTE won bids from Jiangsu Mobile and Sichuan Mobile in 2013 and also from Anhui Mobile and Shandong Mobile in 2014. ZTE is now negotiating commercial cooperation with Beijing Mobile and Fujian Mobile.
In the first half of 2014, the globally renowned consulting corporation MRG released a report on 2013 global IPTV market share. The report shows that ZTE IPTV ranked first in middleware (MW), video-on-demand (VOD), and set-top box (STB) fields. ZTE has ended the domination of Ericsson (Microsoft) in the middleware field for five years. Global IPTV market enters the ZTE era.

ZTE’s Mobile OTT Solution Helping China Mobile Deploy Enhanced Internet TV Services

Interoperationality with Systems of Different Licensees and Vendors
The system architecture is decoupled and each service module can operate independently. It can be applied to various scenarios and provides flexible services for users. It also interoperates with systems of different licensees and vendors. ZTE is the sole vendor supporting both content retrieval from the source server and content injection.

Mobile CDN Approaching Users to Guarantee Video Quality
The central node of the CDN is located in the IP backbone network. It is connected with public internets and 3G value-added service networks to provide services. Regional and edge nodes are deployed near GGSN/PDSN/PGW for 3G networks. This reduces bandwidth requirements for the core network created by mobile internet and 4G network services. These nodes are close to users in order to reduce network delay and jitter and improve video quality. With bit-rate adaptive technology, users can watch videos smoothly. When mobile users are switching between base stations, they can download files and watch videos seamlessly (Fig. 1).

Cache Integrated with CDN: Improving User Experience
As a buffer acceleration node, Cache can cope with overflow and cooperate with CDN on data retrieval from the source server and acceleration. Unified planning content sources throughout overall network can reduce inter-network traffic. The level-1 Cache serves as a reverse export source, and in the future, it can be deployed at other networks by CDN.

Considerate “Butler Service”
OTT provides automatic inspection tools, including the network inspection and the module inspection of CDN NEs, such as the operating system, database, WEB, statistics, reports, CDR, O&M, and capability modules. It can locate potential faults in the system in advance and reduce the probability of failure. The integrated quality assessment service (IQAS) not only provides information collection and service quality monitoring for CDN and terminals but also performs comprehensive analysis and evaluation. ZTE has had long-term and in-depth cooperation with multiple content providers and has helped China Mobile introduce various content from SMG, CCTV, IPTV Americas, EuroSPORT and HBO.

Professional Information Security Solution
OTT provides multimedia information security solution. It also provides professional system value-added services for security warning, system DOS defense capability, key process monitoring, hotlink protection, security account management, and hackers simulation attacks.

Optimized Service Operation Combined with Traffic Management
For video or applications of operators and third parties, ZTE’s mobile OTT solution makes directional traffic free of charge and accelerates content. End users can bind virtual cards and mobile numbers via open platform app clients to use a directional traffic package. Operators profit from traffic management and value-added services through mobile OTT.
With ZTE’s mobile OTT solution, China Mobile provides mobile video services and seizes the market of mobile service portals based on high bandwidth and low traffic cost of its 3G/LTE network. By integrating and upgrading traditional value-added services, China Mobile will change from being a basic telecommunication network provider to being an integrated service provider.  As of August 2014, TP’s network KPIs have exceeded target values for ten straight months. According to Annual Cellular Subscribers (2013), released by the Ministry of Communications of Pakistan, TP experienced the second highest monthly subscriber growth over a two-year period. TP had 35 million subscribers, a market share of 25.15%. They are second only to Mobilink, which has a market share of 29%. TP now operates the best wireless network in Pakistan and is meeting its KPIs.