Mobile Entertainment

DVB-H is currently the most widely used standard for Mobile TV in the EU with trials or commercial launch under way in 16 countries.

This move comes as no surprise to us after the strong support the EC gave the technology last summer and in effect the announcement is simply a rubber stamp procedure.

That said there are some questions around how this decision fits with the EC's other commitments and recent developments in spectrum policy.

At first glance the decision appears to go against the EC's commitment to technology neutrality (the freedom to deploy any technology within a designated spectrum band to provide a service).

However, technology neutrality is a principle not a dogma. For some reasons it might be appropriate to suggest a particular standard. In these instances the EC can recommend standards but not make them mandatory.

In a way this is what happened with DVB-H for mobile TV because it saw that there was little momentum in Europe and that the market was not progressing in the same way as the Asian market. An EU-wide adoption of DVB-H should provide the industry with the necessary economies of scale to launch services across the EU.

The EC's next challenge will be in achieving a harmonised use of the spectrum in which the technology will operate. Opting for a single standard is useless if there is no common spectrum available to deploy it. The UHF band, which is the most favourable band for DVB-H deployments, is due to be opened up once the digital switchover is completed around 2012.

However, at the moment there is no consensus on what this band should be used for. This is a problem since given the nature of spectrum airwaves do not stop at national borders. Neighbouring member states will need to agree how this spectrum band should be used to ensure that interference does not occur.

When announcing the review of the current telecoms framework late last year, the EC stressed the importance of achieving a common approach to the digital dividend. So far only Ofcom in the UK has set out its plans and decided not to reserve spectrum for particular uses.

The Commission has also spoken more about using this spectrum to make broadband available in rural areas than it has about using this spectrum for deploying mobile TV. Achieving a coordinated approach is therefore likely to lead to a long and difficult process.