EU wants single mobile TV standard

Stuart Corner
Monday, 19 March 2007 08:29

Business IT - Technology

In a strongly worded address to the CeBit IT show in Hannover, the European Union's Commission for Information technology, Viviane Reding, has urged member states and the IT industry to settle on a common standard for the delivery of broadcast TV to mobile devices.

"With an estimated worldwide market of Euro 11.4 billion by 2009, mobile TV represents an opportunity for Europe to combine its strength in mobile communications with the richness and diversity of its audiovisual sector," said Reding.

"However, I am disappointed about the lack of progress made so far," she added. "To fully reap the benefits of this market and to export a European model for Mobile TV as we did with GSM for mobile phones, industry and member states must work more closely together to devise a common approach, compare technologies, look at possible legal obstacles, make spectrum available throughout Europe and choose together the best way to ensure a quick and large take-up of Mobile TV by Europeans, preferably based on a single standard. It is now time to draft the new model of mobile TV that it needs to be economically successful in Europe."

It is widely recognised that the business model for mobile TV will combine telecommunications technologies such as 3G and broadcasting technologies such as DVB-H. Only broadcasting technologies have the necessary capacity to support large scale consumption of mobile TV.

The Commission says that interoperability among mobile TV platforms and enabled devices is crucial for large scale take-up by European consumers. The commission has already invested some €40 million in mobile TV-related research and supported the emergence of the open digital video broadcasting (DVB) standards, which also cover mobile broadcasting.