An upgraded 3G network with higher speeds will this year make it possible to share live clips from the race with friends and family via mobile phones. 

With 3G HSPA base stations in place along the 90-kilometer racetrack between the villages of Sälen and Mora, it will be easy to capture all the action on every curve and hill throughout the race, which will be held on March 1. Ericsson’s Me-On-TV solution will make it possible to send live video streams from technically complicated terrain to Swedish state television company SVT, which will transfer the stream directly to the live broadcasting session.

“Thanks to mobile broadband we can provide the latest version of the Me-On-TV application, which delivers top-quality pictures to television viewers,” Charlotta Sund, head of Multimedia and Systems Integration at Ericsson’s Market Unit Nordic and Baltics, says. 

Ericsson’s Me-On-TV solution will make it possible to capture skiers in action at spots normally off limits to TV reporters.

“This is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate how mobile technology can be of benefit for television broadcasters ,” says Sune Karlgård, who is project manager for the Me-On-TV project at Ericsson’s Market Unit Nordic and Baltics.

This multimedia initiative has evolved from last year’s cooperation between Vasaloppet, Ericsson and the national TV channel SVT. This year, Ericsson will provide a Me-On-TV solution that uses packet switching over an HSPA/3G network, which allows high-quality resolution pictures.

“This is a major step forward for broadcasters because it’s easier and doesn’t cost as much as transmission via a satellite,” Karlgård says.