Starting today, 350 O2 customers in the Greater Dublin area are using Nokia N92 handsets to access to 13 participating channels, including RTE1, RTE2, TV3, Sky Sports, Sky News, Setanta Sports and The Discovery Channel.

O2 is the first operator to trial broadcast mobile TV services in Ireland, having conducted initial demonstrations on location at the Ryder Cup golf tournament last September.

As part of the current trial, which lasts until August 31st, participants will also be able to interact with a music and games channel using the mobile network. Other features include an electronic service guide (ESG) that allows users to search for specific items and set their handsets to alert them when a show is about to start. 

Gerry McQuaid, O2 Ireland's commercial director, said: “Mobile TV will greatly enhance the range of services to users and is an exciting progression in the evolution of mobile entertainment. O2 and Arqiva now look forward to learning from the ‘live’ phase, where real O2 customers will experience a completely new world of television viewing on the move and will have the opportunity to give us their feedback on the service.”

Hyacinth Nwana, managing director of mobile media solutions at Arqiva, said: “This is proven technology, which has already been shown to have significant consumer demand and we are excited about trialing broadcast mobile TV in Ireland with O2. Arqiva has considerable experience in mobile broadcasting, having taken part in a range of trials across a variety of standards in the UK and we are confident the Irish public will enjoy the experience that broadcast mobile TV offers.”

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O2 UK and Arqiva previously conducted a DVB-H trial in Oxford, with 72 per cent of participants indicating they would take up the service within 12 months if it was made commercially available.