EU Nations to Push DVB-H Over Other Mobile TV Standards

BRUSSELS (AP)--The European Union on Monday chose the mobile TV standard DVB-H over other versions of the technology, saying governments are now required to promote it as operators start to offer broadcasts to mobile phones.

DVB-H, or Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds, is the most widely used mobile TV format in Europe and is supported by handset makers Nokia, Motorola, Philips Electronics, Sagem, Sony, Ericsson, Samsung and operators Vodafone Group, O2 and T-Mobile International.

The E.U. Commission said its decision ordering E.U. nations to privilege DVB-H over rival standards -such as Qualcomm's MediaFLO and others developed by Chinese and South Korean manufacturers -was necessary to get the technology off the ground.

The commission is entitled to make decisions on some technical standards on behalf of national governments.

E.U. spokesman Martin Selmayr said the E.U. executive was "ending a war on standards" that could hold back the new technology and was supporting a development already backed by market forces.

E.U. nations were more skeptical last December, refusing to back an E.U.-wide mandate for the new technology because it would be too early to intervene in the market by eliminating rivals and giving DVB-H a clear run.

The E.U. has taken the same tack before on new technology, pushing GSM for mobile phones, which led Europeans to switch to cells much faster than people in the U.S.

Mobile TV is still at an early stage in Europe and is up and running only in Italy, with launches planned for Finland, Austria, France, Switzerland and Spain.

The E.U.'s telecoms chief, Viviane Reding, has warned that Europe risks losing its competitive edge unless it moves fast. South Korea has a mobile TV penetration rate of 10%, while Italy, the E.U.'s most advanced market, has less than 1%.

The E.U. cited research forecasts of a steep increase in demand in 2009, with the worldwide market reaching EUR20 billion in sales in 2015.

But that depends on the industry overcoming the problem of competing formats for new technology -such as battling movie disc types HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray -which can deter consumers and prove costly to manufacturers that back the wrong horse.

Many companies have chosen DVB-H, which was developed by European research institutes, because it is an open standard and cheaper than Qualcomm's technology, which charges higher licensing fees.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 17th March 2008