Qualcomm out of European mobile TV?
It is no real surprise that the Nokia-backed DVB-H mobile TV system has been formally chosen by the EU as its European standard for TV to mobiles. But where does this leave arch-rival Quacomm and its MediaFlo system?
DVB-H is already the most widely-used European mobile TV standard, which isn’t actually saying very much, but the fact that besides Nokia, the likes of Sagem, Ericsson and other key players like O2, Vodafone and T-Mobile are all backing it gives the end result a certain acceptability.
Qualcomm, in comparison, has secured two of the USA’s major mobile incumbents in AT&T and Verizon. Of course, the real success story is in the Far East where South Korea and Japan have stand-alone systems which are selling like the proverbial hot cakes thanks to strong industry and public broadcasting support.
“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 EU says it wants a single standard across Europe in order to generate economies of scale, and to push the embryonic technology into consumer’s hands. "They can do that by labelling, they can do that by promoting it in attributing licenses and so on," said EU spokesman Martin Selmayr.
But, and this is key, the EU admits that individual nations and licensing authorities can essentially still do as they please. This was picked up by Ovum’s Matthew Howett. “At first glance the decision appears to go against the EC's commitment to technology neutrality (the freedom to deploy any technology within a designated spectrum band to provide a service). However, technology neutrality is a principle not a dogma. For some reasons it might be appropriate to suggest a particular standard. In these instances the EC can recommend standards but not make them mandatory. In a way this is what happened with DVB-H for mobile TV because it saw that there was little momentum in Europe and that the market was not progressing in the same way as the Asian market. An EU-wide adoption of DVB-H should provide the industry with the necessary economies of scale to launch services across the EU.”
“The EC's next challenge will be in achieving a harmonised use of the spectrum in which the technology will operate. Opting for a single standard is useless if there is no common spectrum available to deploy it. The UHF band, which is the most favourable band for DVB-H deployments, is due to be opened up once the digital switchover is completed around 2012. However, at the moment there is no consensus on what this band should be used for. This is a problem since given the nature of spectrum airwaves do not stop at national borders. Neighbouring member states will need to agree how this spectrum band should be used to ensure that interference does not occur,” says Howett.
“When announcing the review of the current telecoms framework late last year, the EC stressed the importance of achieving a common approach to the digital dividend. So far only Ofcom in the UK has set out its plans and decided not to reserve spectrum for particular uses. The Commission has also spoken more about using this spectrum to make broadband available in rural areas than it has about using this spectrum for deploying mobile TV. Achieving a coordinated approach is therefore likely to lead to a long and difficult process,” Howett added.
We think the jury is still out on Qualcomm in Europe.
It is no real surprise that the Nokia-backed DVB-H mobile TV system has been formally chosen by the EU as its European standard for TV to mobiles. But where does this leave arch-rival Quacomm and its MediaFlo system?
Qualcomm, in comparison, has secured two of the USA’s major mobile incumbents in AT&T and Verizon. Of course, the real success story is in the Far East where South Korea and Japan have stand-alone systems which are selling like the proverbial hot cakes thanks to strong industry and public broadcasting support.
“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 EU says it wants a single standard across Europe in order to generate economies of scale, and to push the embryonic technology into consumer’s hands. "They can do that by labelling, they can do that by promoting it in attributing licenses and so on," said EU spokesman Martin Selmayr.
But, and this is key, the EU admits that individual nations and licensing authorities can essentially still do as they please. This was picked up by Ovum’s Matthew Howett. “At first glance the decision appears to go against the EC's commitment to technology neutrality (the freedom to deploy any technology within a designated spectrum band to provide a service). However, technology neutrality is a principle not a dogma. For some reasons it might be appropriate to suggest a particular standard. In these instances the EC can recommend standards but not make them mandatory. In a way this is what happened with DVB-H for mobile TV because it saw that there was little momentum in Europe and that the market was not progressing in the same way as the Asian market. An EU-wide adoption of DVB-H should provide the industry with the necessary economies of scale to launch services across the EU.”
“The EC's next challenge will be in achieving a harmonised use of the spectrum in which the technology will operate. Opting for a single standard is useless if there is no common spectrum available to deploy it. The UHF band, which is the most favourable band for DVB-H deployments, is due to be opened up once the digital switchover is completed around 2012. However, at the moment there is no consensus on what this band should be used for. This is a problem since given the nature of spectrum airwaves do not stop at national borders. Neighbouring member states will need to agree how this spectrum band should be used to ensure that interference does not occur,” says Howett.
“When announcing the review of the current telecoms framework late last year, the EC stressed the importance of achieving a common approach to the digital dividend. So far only Ofcom in the UK has set out its plans and decided not to reserve spectrum for particular uses. The Commission has also spoken more about using this spectrum to make broadband available in rural areas than it has about using this spectrum for deploying mobile TV. Achieving a coordinated approach is therefore likely to lead to a long and difficult process,” Howett added.
We think the jury is still out on Qualcomm in Europe.