DVB-H Mobile TV - deployed, coming soon, and coming.... later!

As the final part of my trilogy of blogs (you can find the other parts here and here) on Mobile TV, I thought a brief look at where the DVB-H variant has launched….

In the event, I have decided to direct you a great table, courtesy of DVB-H.org, which correlates service availability with country, and MNO (Mobile Network Operator). You can find this table here. I encourage you to take a look, it makes for interesting reading!

I’ve listed a couple of highlights and comments below:

Italy leads the pack – 3 services running in one country!
Germany should deploy within 2008
France should also have a working service by the end of 2008
There are number of non-European countries where trials are either ongoing, or have been completed, for example: Australia, Canada, and Vietnam – the last of which has actually launched as well!

I will be re-visiting the topic of Mobile TV frequently, with news and commentary, and would love to hear comments that you, the readership, have on it!

[Via: DVB-H.org]

About The Author

Ben Robinson

Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.

Chris P

I think the EU Commission have made a huge error in judgement by choosing DVB-H. The way DVB-H works is far more inefficient and requires a large block of bandwidth to work. At least if DMB had been chosen it could start transmissions far sooner (ie from now) and cheaper (upgrading the existing DAB network). But efficiency doesnt usually win, marketing does and DVB-H have a huge backer in the name of Nokia. We in the Uk wont be seeing decent coverage of DVB-H for some time (maybe 2011!?) because of lack of bandwidth. Nokia have had the phones ready for a while now (N92) however chosing DVB-H has slowed down that rollout.
Jurjen

I disagree with the fact that DVB-H is a wrong choice. If you look at the Dutch market you will see that DVB-T has already been launched. The infrastructure and frequency of DVB-T can be re-used for DVB-H. So in my opinion it is a very smart choice.

A large advantage is that European consumers can take their DVB handset and enjoy free-to-air channels all over Europe, if every country sticks to DVB-H. The subscription part is still fragment and depending on the protections standards out there.
Chris P

Jurjen – DVB-T Is a totally different system! Of course DVB-T is spread around Europe but DVB-T cannot be converted to work with DVB-H. Bandwidth has to be made available – which is larger parts for the vast majority of coutries it isnt.

Yes it might be a good idea to standardise across Europe (a big issue is obviously language – do you think Dutch people will be happy to watch Polish TV?) obviously for economies of scale etc and for the ‘EU project’ however my bone is whether the EU have made the right choice. Nokia have been particularlly good at lobbying the EU, they have the funds of course and it is an EU company so I cant see why the EU went for DVB-H.
Chris P

Apologies for the awful grammar and spelling, I didnt really read it through before posting.
Jurjen

Agreed that DVB-T is a different system, but the spectrum and infrastructure (radio towers) still can be re-used together with DVB-H.

The back-end systems and decoders are different that is correct. I have a good source for this and evidence
Chris P

The spectrum cannot be ‘reused’ it can replace DVB-H however that would mean shutting off or reducing the number of channels transmitted over DVB-T transmissions, which wont happen. DVB-H requires bandwidth to be available (as does DMB) however the way DVB-H works, it needs one contiguous block of spectrum to work – but DMB does not – that is the advantage of DMB over DVB-H. As a result for example, the UK will not get mobile TV in DVB-H format until 2012!
I am not knocking the technology of DVB-H, the choice of DVB-H will slow down transmission and ultimately adoption of Mobile TV in Europe.
GaryTheGeek

Chris, while I agree with you tactics EC and Ms. Reding are deploying here being somewhat disturbing in today’s world I have to say T-DMB certainly do not represent any efficiency over DVB-H.
Why is DAB 1.5MHz channel raster “more efficient” than DVB-H 5MHz? Even in UK there would be spectrum available e.g. UHF ch 36. Should ofcom being able to make any decisions in any meaningful time frame, that is.
Also “upgrading” any DAB network (VHF or L-band) to support mobile handheld use case would cost you about the same as building everything from scratch.
Anyway, the slooooow uptake of mobile is likely a market inertia issue, not a technology issue. To prove that point, please analyze uptake of ISDB-T one seg in Japan vs T-DMB in Korea vs. MediaFLO in USA.