Mobile TV will take off in a big way this year, according to a report by Informa Telecoms & Media, with the World Cup providing the spark for the launch of services across Europe.
Informa predicts that the £300 million of revenue will come from users accessing streaming and broadcast services on their phones in the World Cup and says that mobile TV will owe its success to the type and format of content that is made available (see
Mobile Phone Operators Focus On Content To Push Mobile TV), and the trial services currently underway from BT Movio (see
Offline News Media Losing Out To Online) in the UK and BSkyB and Qualcomm in Europe will play a large part in discovering the best type of content for mobile and short term use.
The study, Mobile TV: Broadcast and Mobile Multimedia forecasts 210 million subscribers by 2011 with 10% of all handsets sold in that year having a broadcast receiver.
By 2011, Informa anticipates that DVB-H handsets will form the bulk of all broadcast receiver handset sales (63%), equating to 73 million units, followed by MediaFLO devices with sales expected to reach 14.5 million.
The Mobile TV research says that adoption rates will vary according to region as the necessary broadcast infrastructure is put in place and handsets become more common, with Asia-Pacific leading the way with a predicted 95.1 million subscribers by 2011.
Europe is forecast to have 68.7 million subscribers by 2011 with spikes as operators launch services for the World Cup and in 2009 when a more complete infrastructure base is likely to be achieved. Following on will be Middle East and Africa with 9.5 million subscribers in 2011 and the Americas with 9.1 million.
David McQueen, senior analyst and report author for Informa Telecoms & Media.”This year’s World Cup will prove a major catalyst for mobile TV growth. It will give operators a chance to show what they can already do and test consumer demand. But the real growth will take place over the next five years.
“As soon as the 2008 Olympics we’ll all be much more prepared to watch TV on our phones and by the 2010 World Cup the infrastructure will be mature and one in thirteen mobile phone users worldwide will own a mobile TV handset.
However, perhaps mindful of the problems with current technology (see Mobile TV Up-Take Slowed By Technological Faults), McQueen added: “But whilst people buy into the idea of mobile TV, some of the finer details are yet to be fully resolved: finding a suitable price point and delivering compelling content to name two. This year we think we will see these issues begin to be fully resolved and the rapid uptake of mobile TV devices and services will commence.”
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