Telenor to focus on mobile video, ties up with Alcatel-Lucent

Witold Sitek, SVP Technology, Telenor, said the telecom operator will focus on mobile video. The wireless operator selected Alcatel-Lucent to boost its offerings and revenues.

Witold Sitek, SVP Technology, Telenor Group, said: “As the passion for video from sites like YouTube grows, we want to make sure we keep our network capacity and intelligence one step ahead of demand.”

Nielsen recently found that more people are watching video on the go and are doing so more frequently, especially in markets where 3G/4G data service is prevalent.

BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) markets, with the exception of India, boast some of the highest rates of mobile video viewing among those in Nielsen’s syndicated survey, with 39 percent of China’s mobile subscribers and 43 percent of Brazil’s viewing mobile video in a 30-day period.

While smartphone owners are the minority in Japan, the market features fast 3G/4G connections, which explains why Japan has the highest penetration of mobile video viewers (46 percent) of these global markets.

The growing availability of 3G/4G data plans is also fueling a spike in video streaming through apps and mobile sites—a trend that’s more the norm these days among smartphone owners in these markets. Apps are becoming the primary way that smartphone owners in China (55 percent) and the U.K. (59 percent) watch videos on their devices.

The three-year agreement between Alcatel-Lucent and Telenor Group will give buffering-free mobile video and improve overall Internet service quality.

The agreement will enable the deployment of mobile Internet optimization for Telenor’s 2G, 3G and 4G networks in Europe and Asia.

Alcatel-Lucent will help Telenor address the challenges caused by mobile users accessing OTT video from sites like YouTube or Netflix. In high-traffic locations or for popular content being viewed by several people at once – such as the latest YouTube viral sensation – subscribers can be frustrated by slow connection times, interruptions to service and poor quality. What’s more, one subscriber streaming high definition video can affect service quality for others nearby.

Telenor will deploy technology that automatically manages the delivery of Internet traffic over a mobile network, optimizing the experience for customers watching video and accessing web content while ensuring a surge in demand doesn’t affect those using the network for other activities.

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