AfterDawn: News

European Commission (EC) telecoms commissioner, Viviane Reding, has called on those involved in the emerging Mobile TV technology to agree on adopting a single technology standard, and warned about possible intervention if such an decision is not made soon. She said that Europe is risking blowing its chance to become a player in the global Mobile TV market. She made her comments at CeBIT in Hannover Germany.

Across the world, trials of Mobile TV technology are currently underway, as content providers and phone companies are assessing the global consumer demand for TV-on-the-go services. Despite the success of the trials, Reding said she was disappointed with the progress being made by the industry in standardizing the technology.



"The industry should agree on one standard. I think there's no more time to lose here," she said. "In the end I could mandate the standard but I do not want to do that." The European Mobile Broadcasting Council (EMBC) was setup last year with help from the EC, and it brought together everybody interested in the technology, hoping to get stakeholders talking and working towards a unified technology.

Reding set a Summer 2007 target for the Mobile TV industry to agree on a standard. She personally recommended the DVB-H standard that was developed with almost about €40 million of EC funding.

Source:
BBC News

Written by: James Delahunty @ 16 Mar 2007 18:47