LMT Picks Harmonic to Bolster 4G Bandwidth Efficiency for its Live OTT Service

LMT, the leading mobile telecommunications operator in Latvia and the first in the world to introduce Smart TV delivery over a mobile network, has deployed Harmonic’s EyeQ content-aware encoding solution for its live OTT service, delivered to TVs via 4G set-top boxes.

Using Harmonic’s EyeQ technology, LMT can deliver a consistent video experience for live channels to TVs, with up to a 40 percent reduction in bandwidth and without having to perform a massive infrastructure upgrade. Harmonic’s reseller Hannu Pro ensured a smooth deployment at every stage of the project.

“Live events, which can incur a significant peak in viewers especially for TV applications, put considerable stress on our mobile network,” said Edgars Gončars, head of TV at LMT. “Harmonic’s EyeQ solution allows us to offer the best video experience to subscribers while reducing the amount of bandwidth we need and lowering our delivery costs, while increasing the quality of experience. With EyeQ, we have the ability to scale up during popular live events and deliver pristine video quality, which is a critical factor for our continued business growth.”

EyeQ encoding ensures that LMT’s subscribers can watch exceptional HD video quality on 4G-enabled TVs — even when networks are constrained. At the heart of Harmonic’s Electra® video processing system, the EyeQ solution provides LMT with significant opex and capex savings, reducing video traffic by up to 40 percent. With the capability to be deployed within any ecosystem, including appliances, virtual machines, cloud and SaaS, EyeQ content-aware encoding is a flexible choice for OTT service providers like LMT.

“LMT has one of the most efficient mobile networks and high-quality OTT offerings on the market, and that’s in part thanks to its forward-thinking technology strategy,” said Ian Graham, senior vice president of international sales and video services at Harmonic. “Since LMT’s OTT service is sent to TVs, the operator needed a high-quality delivery solution that could scale. Our EyeQ solution will ensure that LMT’s subscribers never miss a moment of exciting content due to bandwidth limitation or video-quality issues.”