NMS Communications is getting into the mobile TV business, only not in the way that companies like MediaFLO USA and MobiTV are in the business. Nonetheless, it’s helping carriers launch new services.

GSM operators with 3G video telephony capabilities can use NMS technology to offer mobile TV services. This week, NMS announced that Globe Telecom in the Philippines is among the carriers using its technology. End-users can watch live or made-for-mobile TV programs.

Worldwide, most GSM operators rolling out 3G networks are doing so with video telephony, with the one notable exception being AT&T in the U.S., says Brough Turner, senior vice president and chief technology officer at NMS. “Mobile TV is another use of this technology and the cool thing is it works over the operator’s existing 3G network” using existing 3G devices, he says.

The 3G Mobile TV solution, deployed at Globe through a local NMS systems integration partner, takes up the same bandwidth as a video telephony call, which equates to just short of four times the bandwidth of a voice call, he says. Pretty much all of the 3G GSM handsets being sold in the Philippines are handsets that are capable of video telephony.

Subscribers actually make a video call to a dial-in number to start their mobile TV experience. So far, Globe Telecom offers six channels.

RTL Group in Europe and CSL in Hong Kong also are using NMS’ technology, the company says.