Siano Scores Major Sockets with Top 3 Brazilian Operators to Power MDTV for FIFA World Cup

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading mobile TV chip maker Siano Mobile Silicon (www.siano-ms.com) announced today that all top three of Brazil's mobile carriers – Vivo, Claro and TIM Brazil - are now promoting products using its MDTV receivers. In partnership with Chinese Telco giant, ZTE, Siano are powering mobile phones and 3G modem cards equipped with digital TV for mobile subscribers in Brazil. The Siano-powered terminals enable viewing of dozens of channels comprised of Sports, News and Entertainment – an experience that will culminate with the FIFA World Cup in 2010. When the games commence in South Africa in June, millions of subscribers in Brazil will have handheld access to real-time viewing of goals scored by Ronaldo, Messi, Rooney and their beloved Kaka.

"We want Brazilians to fully experience the World Cup and be able to watch the games anywhere and anytime," Hugo Janeba, Executive VP of Marketing and Innovation in Vivo, the largest mobile operator in Brazil, said publically last week, adding "and when soccer fans have their own pocket TV, the experience certainly becomes much more complete."

The new data terminals were designed by ZTE and are based on Siano's high performance, multi-standard receiver chip, which supports the Brazilian ISDB-T DTV format, providing unparalleled performance, with record-breaking sensitivity levels that enable perfect picture quality.  The 3G data-cards are compatible with all standard notebooks, netbooks, and desktop PCs.

Brazil is leading the roll-out of mobile digital TV services in South America, with MDTV services having recently debuted also in Argentina and Chile. Other countries very likely to join include Uruguay, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia and Paraguay – who are expected to launch ISDB-T services within the next fifteen months - overall generating one of the largest unified Mobile DTV markets worldwide, totaling more than 300 Million potential viewers.

Dr. Windsor Holden, Principal Analyst at Juniper Research commented on the development:  "Sports broadcasting and the evolution of mobile TV go hand-in-hand.  Given the football-mad Brazilians and the World Cup in 2010, and with Brazil also hosting the 2016 Olympic Games, there's fertile ground for mobile TV to really take-off.  With the help of major sporting events in the coming years, Brazil could prove the first market in South America to make mobile TV a success."

"As one of the largest cellular terminal makers worldwide, ZTE is proud to lead the mobile TV market in Brazil," said Zhang Yadong, Manager of Mobile Broadband Device Production at ZTE. "Siano has been our major partner for mobile TV terminals, due to their excellent products and support."

"We are thrilled to be powering the MDTV revolution in Brazil," added Alon Ironi, CEO of Siano. "Working with the top 3 mobile operators is testament to Siano's superior technology performance – and cements our leadership in the rapidly emerging South American market."

About Siano Mobile Silicon

Siano Mobile Silicon is the leading mobile digital TV chip maker in the world.  Pioneers of the multi-standard approach, Siano's highly integrated silicon receiver chips enable high-performance, fast time-to-market mobile TV solutions for handheld device makers. Siano offers a complete family of MDTV receiver chips for the key emerging mobile TV markets in Europe, South America and China and works closely with global tier-1 PC and mobile handset manufacturers.  Siano is a global company with offices in North America, China, Taiwan, Korea and EMEA (Israel). For more information visit: www.siano-ms.com.

SOURCE Siano Mobile Silicon