3G success will kill off DVB-H, says SpeedCast

John C. Tanner  |   June 16, 2010

CommunciAsia Show Daily 

 

Mobile TV has a bright future in Asia, but not for broadcast technologies like DVB-H, says satellite firm SpeedCast.

 

Asia has all the ingredients for mass market takeup of mobile TV services: low-penetration markets for free-to-air and pay-TV broadcast services and growing 3G penetration, said Stephane Palomba, head of Asia Pacific sales for SpeedCast.

 

“In many emerging markets, pay-TV penetration is less than 2%, and TV set penetration of households is under 30% in markets like Pakistan,” Palomba said during a conference session on mobile VAS yesterday. 

 

Meanwhile, the dropping costs of 3G handsets and services will translate to 40% of mobile users in Asia using 3G-level services by 2013, he added.

 

But the rise of 3G as a mobile TV enabler comes at the expense of broadcast mobile TV technologies like DVB-H, which has seen few deployments worldwide.

 

“The main selling points of DVB-H was that it delivered high-quality video and better battery life for longer viewing times,” Palomba said. “But 3G handsets have improved battery life quite a lot, and even with a HSPA network, you can achieve video streams of 256-328 kbps, which is similar quality to DVB-H.”

 

Palomba said SpeedCast –which still offers a hosted DVB-H solution – is taking a wait-and-see approach to DVB-H, but added: “I’m rather pessimistic about DVB-H in the future.”

 

Not everyone is ready to give up on broadcast mobile TV, however. Earlier this month, Qualcomm formed a JV with KDDI to build a MediaFLO multimedia platform for the Japanese market. The MediaFLO Broadcasting Service Planning JV will bid for a national VHF license for mobile TV scheduled to be issued by the MIC next month.

 

“It won’t just be about broadcast TV, but broadcasting interactive content like e-reader services and music,” said Ali Zamiri, Qualcomm’s Asia business development director for MediaFLO technologies.

 

SpeedCast booth 6H2-01