China to launch commercial trails of Mobile TV

China broadcasting regulator, SARFT, has announced commercial trials of mobile TV soon, based on its homegrown CMMB standard.

As of today, China broadcasting regulator, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) has completed basic terrestrial CMMB coverage in eight cities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Guangzhou and Shenzhen).

Two satellites will be launched next month, according to government plan. It is expected to offer mobile TV services in more than 30 cities during 2008 Olympics based on hybrid satellite-terrestrial coverage.

China Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting (CMMB) is a home grown digital mobile TV standard applying to mobile devices, with features of free mobility, rich video and data services. The three cities selected for the commercial trial are advanced business centres: Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Charice Wang, Research Analyst of Ovum said: his move comes to no surprise to us that Chinese government again supports its homegrown standard in ICT industry, following TD-SCDMA 3G trials by China Mobile (launched in April this year).?

Free Olympic channel

The Beijing Olympic Games, said Wang, provide a good timing for mobile TV to take off, which also sped up SARFT commercialization of CMMB-based mobile TV.

Olympic channel is one of seven free channels to be broadcast in the trial, and more free channels are likely to be launched during the Beijing 2008 Olympic.?

According to Ovum, China is the biggest mobile market in the world, with 574.6 million subscribers as of Q1 2008. Mobile TV services are expected to grow significantly due to its very large subscribers base.

Telecom, Internet and broadcasting networks integrated

Effective from February 2008, Wang said that the new regulation some Policies on Encouraging the Development of Digital TV?represents the first critical step to break regulatory barriers between MII [Ministry of Information Industry] and SARFT on converging business market. Also it promotes the integration of three networks (telecom, internet and broadcasting).

According to Wang, the new regulation has resulted in positive reaction from operators as China Netcom, which has announced to roll out in 10 new cities to launch IPTV service soon.

ICT regulatory confusion cleared

Wang recalled that earlier regulatory confusion had slowed down the progress of commercialisation of the emerging broadcast and communication convergence services in China, such as mobile TV and IPTV.

She said: In 1999, the State Council clearly specified that telecom operators were not allowed to launch broadcasting service; in verse it is same for broadcasters to operate telecom business.

Therefore, before 2008 two separate regulatory and policy makers published their own rules (including standards, regulation, trails and deployment, etc.) in the areas of broadcast and telecoms. Telecom regulator MII issued the certification of mobile handset and managed spectrum and networks, whereas SARFT is in charge of all broadcasting and media content including content and display/viewing devices (e.g. PC, mobile devices, etc.). The strong regulatory hurdle limits mobile TV and IPTV development? Wang said.


Source:misweb.com