Asia-Pacific is leading the adoption of mobile TV broadcasting. According to a new report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, about 38 million viewers—almost 78 percent of the total mobile TV audience—was found in Japan and South Korea in mid-2007. These markets are several years ahead of Europe and North America where the development in most cases has been very slow.
"We believe that regular mobile networks will remain the dominant carrier for mobile video, at least for the next couple of years," said Sabine Ehlers, associate analyst, Berg Insight. The significant costs involved in establishing the infrastructure needed for dedicated mobile broadcast networks is expected to hold back large-scale launching of these in the greater part of Europe for a few more years.
The report plays down the relevance of the current mobile TV standards war, predicting that multi-standard handsets and chips will eventually reduce choice of underlying network to a technical consideration only concerning the manufacturers and network operators. Additionally, Berg Insight foresees the possibility that in the long term all technologies providing mobile TV and other video services, as well as radio services, will be IP-based.
