News
Mobile TV in SA
(10 Dec 2008, BWCS Staff)South Africa is to launch a tender for licences to provide mobile digital video broadcasting services in the country. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) published the tender for two metropolitan multiplexes to enable mobile TV services based on the DVB-H standard, which were adopted by South Africa in September 2007. Currently, frequencies are available in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town, with more to become available soon.
ICASA says that all applicants must have a TV broadcasting or electronic communications licence to participate in the tender. The closing date for applications is 27 February 2009.
Meanwhile, mobile TV is continuing to grow in patches across the world. In the US mobile television and digital radio service provider MobiTV announced yesterday that it has passed the five million subscriber mark, apparently demonstrating that there is a growing consumer demand for mobile TV outside Korea and Japan.
The California-based company, which provides TV and video content over mobile and broadband networks, says it has added more than one million new customers in less than five months. However, in Europe, which has made recent progress with DVB-H, the official standard for terrestrial mobile broadcasting, the technology has yet to reach a mass market.
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