Hong Kong Company Claims First-Ever Live TV-Over-3G BroadcastHong Kong Company Claims First-Ever Live TV-Over-3G Broadcast

Hong Kong's PCCW Mobile claimed Tuesday that it has become the first communications company to broadcast television in real time over its 3G cellular data network.

The company said in a statement that it has started rolling out its 3G TV service in Hong Kong's subway system, enabling commuters to watch TV. The company said it would next roll out the service throughout Hong Kong, with the deployment to be completed by the end of June. About 110,000 PCCW customers subscribe to 3G cellular data service.

The TV service uses what the company calls Cell Multimedia Broadcast technology, developed by Huawei Technologies. The operator claimed that the technology allows many simultaneous users without significantly damaging network performance.

"This is a significant innovation by PCCW, allowing us to leverage our extensive content lineup to more people, across more of our platforms, fixed and mobile," Alex Arena, PCCW's executive director, said in a statement. "We are excited to bring this groundbreaking 3G technology to our customers--another world first for us."

PCCW Mobile is part of PCCW Limited, which also offers, among other products, IPTV to residential customers in Hong Kong.