Swisscom has launched its mobile television service, Bluewin TV mobile, in Switzerland to become one of the first European providers to offer high-quality television experience to its mobile customers. Working together, Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks enabled this service with their leading-edge mobile TV technology, services and expertise.

Bluewin TV mobile was launched on May 13 with quality comparable to that of the customers — home TV. The service is made available through a network based on the Digital Video Broadcast for Handheld (DVB-H) standard and can be watched on DVB-H-enabled mobile devices. Swisscom provides its customers with a range of subscription plans and Nokia N77 devices.

For this project, Swisscom’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Swisscom Broadcast chose Nokia’s Mobile Broadcast Solution, while Nokia Siemens Networks integrated the mobile television platform with Swisscom’s systems and provided a broad range of services, including project management, network and architecture planning, security and implementation.

“With the time constraints of the project, it was essential for Swisscom Broadcast to rely on one partner offering a solution based on open standards which can guarantee the end-to-end interoperability of the whole solution, from the DVB-H back-end system to the mobile devices” says Olivier Anthamatten, Head of Strategic Projects at Swisscom Broadcast.

With Bluewin TV mobile, featuring high-definition picture quality and excellent sound, the viewers have a choice of 20 channels, including SF1, TSR1 and Eurosport. An electronic program guide and an easy navigation key allow people on the move to always stay on top of the news.

Swisscom is one of the first DVB-H service providers in Europe and worldwide. Bluewin TV mobile marks a further step in the Group’s multimedia strategy and offers customers on the move the same viewing experience as with their TV at home.

Swisscom’s DVB-H broadcasts reach some 44 percent of the Swiss population, mostly in the area of Basel, Berne, Geneva, Zurich and Lausanne. Customers outside the DVB-H coverage area or without DVB-H handsets can receive Bluewin TV mobile on the Vodafone live! portal using UMTS/EDGE, which covers 99.8 percent of the population.

As Nokia (NYSE: NOK) prepares to launch one of the more innovative ways to sell music on a mobile phone—by including free and unlimited downloads for a year—the company will pay for it dearly, reports The Register. Rumors had been circulating that the handset manufacturer would be paying up to $35 a handset to Universal, which was the first to sign up when Nokia launched the “Comes With Music” initiative last December. Since then, Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG has joined. The Register reports today that Nokia is paying a high price to be innovative. It supposedly will be paying the wholesale per-unit rate for downloads over a certain ceiling (believed to be 35 songs per user). The article doesn’t say what that wholesale rate it is, but if the retail is 99 cents, we are talking a lot of money potentially if users actually embrace the idea and download freely.

It’s a risky move, and if the report is correct, it looks as if Nokia doesn’t know how to handle it. Apparently, Ed Averdieck, formerly Managing Director of Nokia Music, has left the company and Tommi Mustonen, former head of Nokia Multimedia, has been given a “punishment that fits the crime”, which means he must negotiate the deals with labels personally.

Recently, Nokia rejected the pricing reports that it was paying up to $35 a handset, telling IDG that it “is not true. We are not paying that amount to any record label.” But it also appears the company was replying to reports that the fee would be paid for every handset, which is not the case. The company has repeatedly declined to provide any specifics.

Of course if the Register is correct, there could always be another contingency, like volume discounts, or on a limited number of handsets that wouldn’t make it so dire. At CTIA, where Tero Ojanpera, Nokia’s EVP of entertainment and communities spoke, he said Comes With Music is a business for Nokia, it’s not about selling more devices. “It has to be sustainable,” he said. “There has to be money to be shared, and we will share with the partners involved.”

Nokia announced that Sony BMG Music has joined the handset maker’s unlimited music download service, Comes With Music. The service offers one year of unlimited music downloads with the purchase of new music-compatible mobile phone.

“As one of the leading major music companies in the world, our collaboration with Sony BMG means we can offer a huge range of fantastic music from both international and local artists,” said Tero Ojanper?, executive vice president and head of the Nokia Entertainment and Communities business, in a statement. “It’s great to have them on board as we move forward with bringing our unlimited music bundle to the market.”

Nokia originally announced the service in conjunction with Universal Music. Along with downloading unlimited songs to handsets, customers also will be able to access their music from a PC.

Comes With Music is expected to launch in the second half of 2008 on a range of Nokia devices in selected markets.

Nokia also announced two new music-enabled XpressMusic handsets: the Nokia 5320 XpressMusic and Nokia 5220 XpressMusic. Both are expected to begin shipping in Q3 2008, in the retail price range of $254 to $350 before subsidies.

The Nokia 5320 XpressMusic comes with a new voice-controlled Say and Play feature, dedicated XpressMusic keys, a 3.5mm audio jack, up to 24 hours of playback time, an audio chip for hi-fi sound quality, extendable memory up to 8 GB, HS-USB for fast music transfer and HSDPA for fast access to data.

The Nokia 5220 XpressMusic features an asymmetrical design, up to 24 hours playback time, dedicated XpressMusic keys and a 3.5mm audio jack.