DVB-H will triumph in mobile TV war, say analysts

DVB-H will end up as mobile broadcasting's de facto standard before the end of the decade, analysts believe.

By 2011, analyst house Frost and Sullivan predicts revenues in the DVB-H mobile TV market will be worth €6.8bn, with operators likely to charge users between €7 and €12 per month extra for DVB-H functionality by 2010.

The analysts believe that DVB-H will really take off from 2008, leaving 'old' video formats such as streaming and clip downloads to be used as sales channels to promote broadcast content.

Before mobile operators find their DVB-H feet, however, the age-old problem of spectrum allocation will need to be solved. In the meantime, operators will turn to multicasting technologies, such as Qualcomm's MediaFLO, alongside their networks.

Nokia and 02 are already trialling the DVB-H technology for TV in the Oxford region.

However, a recent report by research firm Analysys favours MMBS to become the technology of choice for broadcasting, as it needs no spectrum or licensing changes and only a minor rewrite of the existing 3G standard.