The cost of establishing the infrastructure necessary for dedicated mobile broadcast networks will hold back large-scale launching of mobile TV in Europe, analyst firm Berg Insight predicted.
Most mobile TV at present is consumed in the Asia-Pacific region, with almost 78pc of the total mobile TV audience residing in Japan and South Korea, according to Berg Insigh.
“We believe that regular mobile networks will remain the dominant carrier for mobile video, at least for the next couple of years,” commented Sabine Ehlers, associate analyst, Berg Insight. “The significant costs involved in establishing the infrastructure needed for dedicated mobile broadcast networks is expected to hold back large-scale launching of these in the greater part of Europe for a few more years.”
The Berg Insight research also plays down the relevance of the current mobile TV standards war, predicting that multi-standard handsets and chips will eventually reduce choice of underlying network to a technical consideration only concerning the manufacturers and network operators.
Berg Insight also predicted that in the long term all technologies providing mobile TV and other video services, as well as radio services, will be IP-based.
By Niall Byrne
