Disqus
I read with interest an article on BBC News that is reporting on the uptake of Digital TV in the UK – apparently we are ahead of France, Germany, the US, and other countries, according to the National regulator, Ofcom.
Research suggests that 86% of homes in Britain can now receive digital on their main set, while 30% have digital video recorders
The report from Ofcom (The International Communications Market report) was actually more expansive than just Digital TV, and included other Comms technologies too:
- Across all the countries examined, average broadband take-up was 56% of households in 2007. Britain came in at 60%.
- Britain has more high definition television sets per capita than any other country in Europe, but less than in the US and Canada.
- Mobile phone use is soaring in emerging markets with 216 million new mobile subscriptions registered in Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2007.
- China alone added 88 million mobile users last year, more than the total number of subscriptions in Britain.
Anyway, I digress. Whilst we are leading in Digital TV take-up (apparently), I’d suggest we are certainly not leading in Mobile (Broadcast) TV. There have been a number of trials, and even one (unsuccessful) live launch, in the shape of Virgin Mobile’s DAB-IP TV. However, due to spectrum issues, and rollout costs, right now there are no immediate plans for delivery of a Mobile Broadcast TV service.
And this is where our lead in Digital TV dovetails nicely back in to Mobile TV lack of success – we are racing to shut off Analogue transmission (and go Digital) so that we can free up currently-taken terrestrial spectrum – which could then be re-purposed for things like Mobile TV – only trouble is, this isn’t due to happen until 2012!
You can read the article from BBC News here.
[Image via: Digital UK]
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.
