EU Wants Home-Grown Mobile TV
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Alternative technologies are once again blocked in Europe.
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(InfoWorld) - The European Commission is harmonizing radio frequency bands across the European Union in order to spur use of a wide range of wireless devices such as wireless computer keyboards, headphones and garage door openers, it said Thursday. Frequency bands will soon be harmonized throughout the E.U. making life simpler, as anyone in Europe will be able to use the same short-range wireless product anywhere in the E.U. and manufacturers need only make one product for the whole internal market, the Commission said in a statement. The Commission hopes the move will decrease the price of wireless devices. A parallel move aims to harmonize frequencies for RFID (radio frequency identification) devices too. These electronic tags are increasingly used in businesses such as retail and logistics, tracking of goods and persons, security and alarm systems. "From garage door openers to baby monitors, alarms and wireless medical implants, short range devices affect us all, from the very young to the very old," said Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for the information society. "That's why these Commission decisions will help create a single market for wireless devices, stimulate their uptake, boost industry in this vital sector and provide benefits to all Europeans." Short-range wireless devices are often portable mass market products can be operated without a licence in all member states. Once the radio frequencies are harmonized, consumers will not have to check whether specific equipment can be used in each member state, the Commission said, claiming that this will spur demand, reduce production costs for manufacturers and encourage new innovative devices and applications. A recent Commission study estimated the value of the market for these devices to be â¬25 billion ($33 billion) by 2009. The retail sector is likely to be the main first user to increase the efficiency in the flow of goods and storage by using RFID technology. The Commission believes the value of RFID services and equipment market in the E.U.'s 15 core members will reach â¬4 billion by 2010. For more information on the E.U.'s radio spectrum policy go to this page. The two decisions on harmonization of the radio spectrum use by short-range devices and for RFID devices in the ultra high frequency (UHF) band can be found here. A study on legal, economic and technical aspects of 'collective use' of spectrum in the European Community (2006) can be found here.
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Nokia NOK1V.HE said there was no   need for a single radio frequency for mobile television across   the European Union and said the Commission's plan for an   interim solution was unrealistic.
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The European Commission on Wednesday endorsed Nokia's standard for TV broadcasts to cell phones, saying Europe needed one common standard for mobile TV and it would look at ways to mandate its use.
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Miniature mobile phones, which already double as cameras, Internet devices and music players, are poised to merge with the largest of home appliances: the television.
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In case music, games, and video weren't enough, vendors are now vying for the opportunity to send digital television signals to your mobile phones.
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Europeans&#39; interest in watching mobile  television is as tiny as cellphone screens, a new study showed  on Monday, even though the industry has been buzzing about  offering TV on handsets for years.
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(InfoWorld) - At a global event once known for long-winded, diplomatic speeches delivered by heads of state-owned telephone companies, Viviane Reding, European Union Commissioner for Information Society and Media, was brief and blunt in her keynote speech Monday at the opening of the Telecom World conference and exhibition in Hong Kong. Speaking to a mixed audience of government officials and corporate executives, Reding said "competition drives growth -- not monopolies." Key to creating a competitive telecom market is, among other things, the development of alternative infrastructure, such as cable and wireless networks, which can compete with the public networks of entrenched incumbents, according to Reding. Regulators can play a big role in this process by supporting the development of competitive networks, she said. IP (Internet Protocol) technology is another tool regulators could use to foster competition. With platform-neutral IP, they could establish a "functional separation" between the "passive network," or underlying infrastructure consisting of cables and components, and the "active network" comprising the many different services that run on top, Reding said. A functional separation could make competition much more effective in a services-oriented environment, but such a separation would have to be done "in a careful way," she warned. Even though GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) was everything but an open global standard when the European Union initially agreed to the need to establish a pan-European mobile phone system, policy makers in Brussels have since acknowledged the need for standards to be established by the market -- and not government. Reding pointed to the current standards battle in Europe over broadcast mobile TV technology. "Several standards are fighting for the pole position," she said. But governments shouldn't decide because they could select the "wrong standard" and "lock " industry into a technology that may be inferior or commercially unattractive. Governments need to minimize regulation in the digital era, including spectrum allocation, Reding said. Many of the entry barriers in the wireless sector that exist today are bureaucratic, not technical, and governments should get rid of them as soon as possible, she said. Wrapping up her speech, Reding had a word of advice for Chinese regulators: they should participate in global telecom standards rather then favoring their own. "We are living in an open world," the Commissioner said. "Government should not be setting standards, but should be providing the legal framework to create free and open competitive standard setting." Reding's remarks mirrored the concerns of European WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) equipment makers that worry about beingÂ locked out of ChinaÂ if the government favors the homegrown TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) standard and local suppliers that support it. At present, WCDMA, which dominates Europe and huge chunks of Asia, the U.S.-supported CDMA 2000 and China's self-developed TD-SCDMA are the three potential 3G (third-generation) mobile network technology standards for China. Â ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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The wireless service provider seeks growth in emerging markets.
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The promise of mobile TV combined wtih a lack of available wireless spectrum has European cellular operators and handset vendors scrambling for an answer.
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Concerns about price, reliability and quality may dampen demand for mobile TV in the U.S., according to a survey of 22,000 European mobile service users.
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Europeans came a step closer to having television on their mobile phones on Friday when two groups of companies announced plans to push forward with consumer trials and establish a standard for the technology.
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Industry given more proactive role Improved management of Europe's airwaves could boost electronic communications industry revenues by billions of euros per year, according to Brussels.â¦
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Asia is set to overtake Europe's early lead in adopting mobile television broadcasting.
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European consumers want music not video or games on their portable gadgets. According to Jupiter Research only a lowly five per cent of people would like a music player which could also play films.
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In a panel discussion today concerning the future of technology policy in the European Union, Japan, and the United States, it became apparent that the EU's and the US's opinions on mobile TV are diametrically opposed.
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The EU is backing a project that would let viewers personalise shows and films to suit their tastes.