China Mobile favourite to win mobile TV race
May 22, 2009
China’s three telecom operators are accelerating their plans to roll out mobile TV services in order to gain ground in the forthcoming 3G era, with China Mobile the favourite to win among both analysts and consumers. Although the 3G networks deployed by operators have the potential to provide streaming TV services, all three operators plan to rely mainly on the China-developed China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CMMB) mobile TV standard to deliver their mobile TV services to both their 2G and 3G customers.
“All three telecom operators are accelerating their mobile TV businesses, but China Mobile still has the biggest chance of dominating the market,” Michael Chang, an industry analyst with market research firm In-Stat, said.
According to Chang, the government’s preference for TD-SCDMA as a 3G standard and CMMB as a mobile TV standard will drive China Mobile’s mobile TV business. “It is the Chinese government’s wish to develop CMMB mobile TV. At present, only TD-SCDMA+CMMB mobile phones can obtain network access licenses from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which gives China Mobile a head start in CMMB mobile TV operation,” Chang said.