Skip to main content

Carriers Least Likely to Benefit from Mobile TV

TelecomTV reports that mobile operators around the globe will be concerned at a new poll of telecoms analysts conducted by Reuters. Most questioned said they expect mobile TV, the service on which so many carriers are pinning their hopes and betting their shirts, will be a comparative failure.

The problem, analysts say, is that content providers have little incentive to cut operators in on margins as nascent live mobile broadcasting technologies such as DMB, DVB-H and MediaFlo do not rely on (as in by-pass) cellular networks.

�I think content providers and broadcasters may be the two parties that will benefit from mobile broadcasting. You don't need mobile operators' networks to broadcast. The value that operators give to customers is very low,� noted Gartner analyst, Eleana Liew.

Observers point to two key indicators that run counter to previous optimistic projections. Content providers have snapped up the bulk of the $5 billion generated by ringtones, while a pioneering DMB service, launched by the South Korean operator SK Telecom, has seen 75 percent of associated revenue diverted to programme makers.

Popular posts from this blog

Connected Vehicles to Reach 1.05B by 2035

Every executive who has approved a connected product roadmap has made a quiet assumption: the network underneath it will still be there. That assumption is about to be tested at a scale the automotive industry has never faced. The global connected vehicle installed base is heading toward a billion units, and the cellular technology most of those vehicles depend on is scheduled to begin its retirement before the end of the decade. For automakers, fleet operators, insurers, and the telecom carriers that serve them, the question is whether the recurring revenue those services promise can survive a connectivity layer with a shorter life than the vehicle carrying it. How Scale Meets an Expiry Date Omdia research forecasts that the global connected vehicle installed base will surpass 1.05 billion units by 2035, up from 473.7 million in 2025. Few installed bases of any kind more than double in a decade, and this one signals that connectivity is moving from premium differentiator to baseline e...