Crown Castle International is a member of a new forum to promote IP Datacasting activities

IBC, Amsterdam, September 13, 2001 - Ten of Europe's leading companies in the field of broadcasting, multimedia and communications have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote the use of the DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting) and other digital broadcast standards for the delivery of multimedia content using Internet Protocol standards. Digital broadcasting networks offer a very cost-effective and spectrum-efficient way to deliver popular broadband multimedia content to an unlimited number of users at home or on the move.

Open to members from throughout the industry, the Forum will act as a catalyst to facilitate the growth of content-rich multimedia applications for the broadband marketplace by developing a common set of implementation processes and operating standards. Industry-wide adoption of these implementation processes and operating standards will enable service providers to reach more users, reduce service deployment costs, and provide faster access to advanced interactive content such as games, music, local advertisements, and videos. The IP Datacasting Forum, a non-profit organisation, will promote the implementation of IP based services over one-way or two-way (or multiple types of) digital broadcast platforms.

More specifically the Forum targets are to demonstrate end-to-end solutions and address key business opportunities during 2002 in order to enable commercial services in 2003.

The founding companies of the IP Datacasting Forum are:

• Crown Castle International
• Deutsche Telekom
• Digita
• Nokia
• NTL Broadcast
• Philips
• Retevision
• SkyStream Networks
• Teracom
• The Fantastic Corporation

As the catalyst in developing a common set of implementation processes and operating standards for new datacasting initiatives, the IPDC Forum aims to demonstrate end-to-end solutions that address key business opportunities and can be deployed in commercial applications. The Forum also aims to identify and resolve key business issues affecting IP datacasting services, to promote product interoperability, ensure security of content delivery and to encourage and facilitate pilot projects to stimulate industry adoption.

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