EC makes DVB-H official mobile TV standard

The European Commission made the controversial decision to add the DVB-H mobile TV standard to the EU List of Standards on Monday, moving the EC closer to its goal of ensuring that the technology is adopted by all operators in the region.

The Commission said the move would encourage the harmonised provision of mobile TV across the EU, but the proposal has historically been met with apprehension by backers of other technologies such as FLO and DMB.

The stakes riding on mobile TV and DVB-H in particular, are high for the European mobile industry. The EC forecasts that the mobile TV market could be worth up to Eur20bn by 2011, and reach some 500 million users worldwide.

"For Mobile TV to take off in Europe, there must first be certainty about the technology. This is why I am glad that with today's decision, taken by the Commission in close coordination with the Member States and the European Parliament, the EU endorse DVB-H as the preferred technology for terrestrial mobile broadcasting," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for the Information Society and Media. The next steps for implementing the EU strategy on mobile broadcasting will include guidance on the authorisation regimes as well as the promotion of rights management systems based, as is DVB-H, on open standards".

It's fair to say that DVB-H is the most widely used standard for mobile TV in Europe, with trials ongoing in 16 countries. Commercial DVB-H services are already available in Italy, with further launches expected later this year in Finland, Austria, France, Switzerland and Spain.

However, the Commissioner has been criticised for an attitude at odds with the concept of "technology neutrality" that is supposedly at the heart of the telecoms package announced by the EC in early 2004. One of the main reasons Reding's support of DVB-H has drawn fire is that it relies on spectrum that is scarce and therefore restricted. Many European implementations of DVB-H are reliant on spectrum that will not be available until analogue TV is switched off.

Chris Williams, telecoms partner at industry analyst Deloitte, said that while there are some advantages to technology standardisation in terms of economies of scale and ensuring interoperability, it would be preferable to let standards gain their own momentum competitively in the market rather than mandating them.

As a result, Williams said that industry body the GSM Association appears correct in suggesting that it is inappropriate and unnecessary for legislators to pick technology winners.

"Circumstances will define best (and indeed possible) technology choices in each country. We would also question whether Ofcom will be well disposed to follow this lead given that they have moved away from licensing technologies years ago and are auctioning several bands of spectrum suited to a variety of mobile TV technologies. A challenge for consumers without an agreed standard would be understanding the competing offers of service providers and interoperability between standards," he said.

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