German Football-Fest to Appear on Mobile Handsets

March 12, 2006 - source: BWCS

German mobile operator T-Mobile has announced plans to broadcast 20 World Cup matches to its mobile TV customer base this summer. During the four-week football festival the operator's 3G mobile phone customers will be able to select one or all of the matches on offer to view on their handsets.

T-Mobile, along with other European operators, is hoping that the World Cup will provide a much needed boost to consumer take-up of next generation mobile phone services. Mobile TV subscriptions are available from T-Mobile for as little as euros 7.50 a month. In the UK, O2 is planning a similar service for its smaller band of mobile TV aficionados.

Out of a mobile subscriber base of around 80 million users in Germany (for all networks), only 2.3 million have 3G phones. However, this figure is widely expected to grow to over 9 million by the end of the year. It remains to be seen how far the World Cup will boost this take up. T-Mobile executives will be hoping that a sea-change in the national team's recent performances allows it to progress in the tournament and at the same time, encourage more mobile customers to use their handsets to catch crucial matches.