While demigods of soccer were displaying their brilliance on the field,
telecom emerged the champion off field. The venue not only witnessed the
convergence of 32 teams but also a convergence of voice and data governed by
technologies like broadband, HDTV, 3G, mobile TV, RFID and the likes. There were
four official technology partners-Avaya, Toshiba, Deutsche Telekom, and Yahoo.
There was as much action on and off the field. It is estimated that over 18
TB of data traveled across the largest converged voice and data network during
the four weeks of play. Football fans across the globe were glued to the action
in Germany, thanks to abundance of Internet access and mobile connectivity.
Every moment of the action packed game was delivered to billions of desktop PCs,
mobile handsets, radio and of course TV sets.
HDTV broadcasting by mobile trucks (Image courtesy: Euphonix) |
The inside view of an HD broadcasting truck (image courtesy: Dome Productions) |
Full Volley by Broadband
It was aptly called as the first 'Internet' World Cup. The official
site, FIFAworldcup.com offered the match video clips free of charge and without
the need for user registration. A unique feature of the FIFA video service was
on-demand, searchable highlights that allowed fans to locate their favourite
moments such as all the goals by their chosen team and their favorite player.
The broadband power was utilized to its maximum as fans enjoyed moments of
victory and losses online while getting a taste of the atmosphere within the 12
German stadiums. BBC was at the forefront by streaming live coverage of all the
games during FIFA World Cup to its UK subscribers. This gave the
broadband-connected office workers the chance to watch World Cup games at their
desks. Yahoo was the official Internet partner and hosted the event's official
website. Google's online community on the event called Joga was an instant
hit.
Back home, Sifymax provided highlights of FIFA World Cup 2006 in five
different languages including Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam in
addition to English.
HDTV Takes Center-stage
The 18th FIFA World Cup 2006 was the first ever to be produced entirely in
HDTV. In comparison with the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan, only 48 matches
were produced in HDTV. The quality delivered by HDTV is far superior compared to
the existing broadcast standards. This is because HDTV lets viewers watch motion
pictures the way they were intended to be seen-on a wide 16/9 screen,
one-third wider than today's 4/3 screens. More than 180 broadcasters worldwide
broadcast the official video and audio “pool feed” of all 64 hotly contested
matches.
Converged |
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Host Broadcast Services (HBS), the exclusive producer of the event for FIFA,
used a minimum of 20 HDTV cameras at each match. In comparison with the 2002
FIFA World Cup, only 8 HDTV cameras were used per match. The HDTV technical
standard used was HD-SDI 1080i / 50, a worldwide compatible standard. HBS also
designed, build and supplied the 12 technical operations centers, one for each
of the 12 venues. Each controls the signal flow at the venue. Some broadcasters
employed their own production services of HD broadcasting trucks, parked
alongside the World Cup stadium venues.
Huddle Power of Broadcast Engineering
A research study suggested that a cumulative audience of 5 bn people would
watch the championship setting a record for the biggest TV audience ever.
Undoubtedly, it was a field day for major broadcasters across the globe.
Premiere in Germany, TPS in France, Sky Italia in Italy, Canal Digital in the
Nordic and the BBC-all aired the games in high-definition. Euro1080 used
Modulus Video MPEG-4 AVC encoders for World Cup coverage via satellite. ESPN HD,
ABC HD and ESPN2 HD combined to present live coverage of all 64 matches.
PanAmSat used as many as 40 paths across nine satellites: PAS-1R, PAS-2,
PAS-3R, PAS-4, PAS-8, PAS-9, PAS-12, Galaxy 3C and Galaxy 4R to deliver
standard-definition and high-definition channels of World Cup coverage.
GlobeCast also provided HD satellite coverage as a backup for the event, using
capacity on Eutelsat's Eurobird 3 satellite at 33º East. XM Satellite Radio
was the official satellite radio network presenting a play-by-play of all 64
matches in both English and Spanish.
The International Broadcasting Center (IBC) in Munich was the nerve center
for thousands of journalists, camera operators and technicians. The master
control room (MCR) was the center-point where the images from all the cameras in
the 12 stadiums arrived, via fiber-optic networks with a transmission rate of
480 GB per second.
MobileTV on Nokia N92 used for DVB-H trial in Germany |
3G, Mobile TV Kick Off
Operators and vendors used the event as a test-bed, and showcased a new
service, mobile broadcast TV. The event also saw a major thrust for 3G
technologies, as mobile phones were used to relay messages, download content, as
well as to record match highlights.
Mobile TV demos using DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld) were
available through four German mobile operators. The DVB-H trials were mostly
using Nokia N92 phones. While Samsung provided T-DMB phones to Debitel, one of
Germany's largest cellular operators. T-Mobile was the only operator to stream
20 matches live to 3G cell phones.
A report by analysts Informa Telecoms & Media predicted the mobile
television market to be worth $300m over the course of the tournament. Another
study by Visiongain suggested, the one-month long tournament was likely to
generate $6.3 bn in revenue, with text-based services and downloads, such as
ring tones and logos.
Mobile subscribers had a wide platter of mobile content services to choose
from. Mobile ESPN probably had the most comprehensive sports service, delivering
news, scores, statistics, and headlines from ESPN and ESPN-2. Nokia had
'Online Scoreboard' a Java application for its mobiles. 'Yahoo World Cup
On Your Mobile' and 'Google News' for mobile devices were widely available
at no cost. Resco, a leading provider of end-user mobile applications, launched
its mobile guide called World Cup Mobile for the SmartPhone owners who could
view team rosters, stadium portraits, detailed match description, and other
image rich features at the press of a button.
The Players |
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Telecom Enablers
Billing Services Group, a leading communications service industry's
clearing and settlement provider was the exclusive roaming partner for all
wireless operators in Germany including T-Mobile, O2 and Vodafone and E-Plus.
According to BSG, its volume of transaction during the Cup grew by 50%. “World
Cup related digital content were widely downloaded. We anticipated intense
traffic volumes in largely unpredictable spikes for operators,” says Roland
Josef Bopp, CEO, BSG. “So in addition to handling all voice clearing for 5 mn
fans, the content providers required the clearing and settlement of an
unprecedented amount of SMS and MMS messages among various service providers,
all in real-time,” he explains. The operators relied heavily on BSG to process
and clear all roaming transactions.
Cisco enabled Deutsche Telekom to launch next-generation communications
kiosks where fans were provided a host of options at their disposal, including
wireless Internet access, local news, video, and voice services. Varghese M
Thomas, head, Corporate Communications, Cisco Systems - India & SAARC
elaborates, “The kiosks were equipped with the 3,200 Series Cisco Mobile
Access Router to enable advanced capabilities. The router is prepared to
activate HotSpot services and acts as a gateway to a local phone company's
existing ISDN lines, eliminating the need for costly infrastructure upgrades.
The gateway enables VoIP services via DSL in the near future, for additional
cost-savings.”
In addition to this, Cisco Systems in cooperation with T-Systems GmbH
equipped the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt with a completely new network
infrastructure to provide data, Internet Protocol (IP) telephony and wireless
services in time for the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 tournament. “The system
installation was completed within four weeks,” says Thomas. “The existing
LAN, telephone system and WLAN were replaced with an end-to-end IP-based Cisco
Unified Communications system. The new network infrastructure was designed to
meet the high demands related to the event scale,” he added.
Nerves Behind The Glory |
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Avaya is credited with setting up the
How was the How did you address What were the unique challenges faced How did Avaya ensure |
On the Mark
Occurring once in four years, the FIFA World Cup is expected to show more
technological advances by 2010. As the market heats up post-football,
broadcast mobile TV will take over. And it's predicted there will be
210 mn viewers of the small screen by 2011. Irrespective of which team lifts the
World Cup Champion's Trophy, telecommunications digs in firmly in the boots of
glory.
Malovika Rao
malovikar@cybermedia.co.in