EU issues regulatory guidelines to promote Mobile TV

BRUSSELS, Dec. 10 (Chinese media) -- The European Commission

on Wednesday published a set of guidelines for European Union (EU) member

states' authorization of Mobile TV, in order to help promote the new service

across the 27-nation bloc.

The guidelines say that a straightforward,

transparent and non-discriminatory procedure for awarding licenses is the key to

a successful approach avoiding delays.

The quality of the service delivered to customers,

including indoor coverage and transmission quality, should be part of the award

conditions.

The guidelines recommend that frequencies made

available for Mobile TV should be withdrawn if the service has not started

within a reasonable period of time. They also advise regulators to keep the

authorization process open to all industry players and create conditions which

encourage cooperation between telecoms operators (the service provider) and

broadcasters (the content provider).

Finally, they call upon the industry to make sure

that DVB-H-based Mobile TV services in every EU country work together. One way

to do this is by choosing non-proprietary technologies, which all consumers

would be able to use without extra plug-ins and regardless of which device they

use, to access Mobile TV content.

To date, only a few member states, such as Austria,

Finland, France and Germany, have adopted legislation for new Mobile TV

services. The commission's guidelines aim to keep up the momentum for Mobile TV

at EU-level, in order to create a coherent and favorable regulatory environment

for take-off and take-up of this new service.

"Successful commercial launches of Mobile TV in

Austria, Italy, Finland and the Netherlands have proved that efficient

authorization procedures are a key factor for the fast take-up of Mobile TV,"

said Viviane Reding, EU telecoms and media commissioner.

"This is why we want to give member states guidance

on how to allow industry to get these innovative services on track as quickly

and smoothly as possible. We stand for a collaborative approach between all

actors involved, including broadcasters, mobile operators and platforms

operators, and we oppose heavy regulation or burdensome authorization procedures

for the introduction of Mobile TV in Europe," she said.

In July 2007, the European Commission, the executive

body of the EU, proposed a strategy for promoting Mobile TV across the EU. In

March 2008, the commission endorsed DVB-H as the common standard for terrestrial

Mobile TV in the EU.

Mobile TV was first launched in the EU last summer,

in time for the Beijing Olympic Games. In the Netherlands alone, 10,000 users

had already subscribed to the service at the beginning of autumn. Mobile TV

revenues worldwide are expected to reach more than 7.8 billion euros (10 billion

U.S. dollars) in 2013.