- 23 June 2006 -

Mobile TV subscribers to hit 100 million by 2010

By the end of 2010, mobile TV broadcast subscribers worldwide will reach 102 million, a giant leap from 3.4 million in 2006, reports In-Stat. Recognizing that using cellular networks to deliver content that millions want to watch simultaneously requires much greater bandwidth than is currently available, carriers are turning to mobile TV broadcast networks, which have a much lower cost per bit for video delivery, it says.

"The greatest challenge for mobile TV broadcast operators is to acquire the spectrum necessary to offer services," says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. "Spectrum availability may determine which of four standards is chosen, and also impacts the business case for the deployment of a network."

Recent research by In-Stat found that there are positives and negatives to each standard, but each has a vendor eco-system behind it to enable deployment today. 2005 was the year of the first deployments, with ongoing trials in many parts of the world. Mobile carriers, mobile TV network operators, and content providers will soon be testing business models to determine what mobile phone subscribers are willing to pay to watch and what advertisers are willing to pay to reach them.

The research, "Mobile TV Broadcasting Now Out of the Gate" (#IN0603200MBS), covers the burgeoning worldwide market for mobile TV services. It includes forecasts for mobile broadcast TV subscribers, average revenue by subscriber, and revenues by region through 2010. It also contains analysis of competing mobile broadcast technologies and current deployments and trials.

In related research, In-Stat's January 2005 consumer survey found that over one in eight respondents expressed an interest in purchasing mobile video services even though those services were not yet available. Interest in mobile video outpaced all other applications such as gaming, downloadable music and broadcast music.

With interest in portable TV climbing due to various sporting events, this will be good news for handset OEMs and the chip suppliers that serve them. However, it will also present further challenges, not the least being how to integrate the necessary circuitry without further taxing the overall system and affecting talk-time and battery life between recharging. Other challenges will include mutual RF interference and thermal management.

http://www.in-stat.com