Mobilkom Austria And Hutchison Form Mobile TV Partnership

March 11, 2007

In an unprecedented move of service development cooperation between rival mobile operators in Austria - and arguably in other European domestic mobile markets as well - Mobilkom Austria and Hutchison 3G have joined forces with the aim of creating a viable mobile TV business model.

Along with national broadcaster ORS, Siemens and the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences - and with the support of the Austrian regulatory authority (RTR) - the two mobile operators have created the 'Mobile TV Austria' platform.

Based on the Nokia-backed DVB-H mobile broadcasting standard, ORS provides the programming while Siemens provides hardware and 'DVB-H application expertise.' RTR is investing €1.3 m (US$1.7 Million) in the project.

"Mobile TV requires a complex eco-system, including content, encryption and authentication capabilities," says Hannes Ametsreiter, CMO at Mobilkom Austria. "For the business model to work, there needs to be collaboration among the parties involved."

Ametsreiter doesn't disclose how much investment Mobilkom and Hutchison 3G are putting into the project or who would run the DVB-H network for the Mobile TV Austria platform on a commercial basis when the time came.

"The regulator will shortly put out to tender the license for a second DVB-H network," he says. "We might apply for it or our preference might be to lease capacity from ORS if we can get a good deal."

In the meantime, the DVB-H trials are being run over ORS' DVB-H network. More than 400 users are expected to test the platform starting this April.

Ametsreiter is also calling in the regulator to free up spectrum for DVB-H transmission and to confirm Mobilkom Austria's status as a 'cable operator.' This is important in Austria as cable operator status gives Mobilkom Austria immunity from royalty claims by programme makers who already have their content broadcast over ORS channels.

"It wouldn't be a viable business model for us if we had to pay the likes of CNN a royalty to broadcast its programming to a mobile phone," says Ametsreiter.

In perhaps a wake-up marketing call for the likes of Qualcomm and Alcatel, who each have their own mobile TV broadcasting platforms to rival DVB-H, Ametsreiter admits that he hasn't seriously looked at DVB-H alternatives.

"We're very happy with the DVB-H picture quality, its channel capacity and the fact that handsets are available now," he says.