August 29, 2006 at 18:45Mobile TV in Russia emits a weak signal
A week ago, two cellular operator - CJSC "Sky Link" and CJSC "SMARTS" - started trial operation of the service "Mobile TV", informs "Prime-TASS" in a review article about the prospects of mobile TV development in Russia. The television signal will be broadcast using GPRS technology.
Among the major operators in Russia, only Vimpelcom OJSC does not provide mobile TV services - the company has its own reasons. The remaining members of the Big Three are MegaFon OJSC and Mobile TeleSystems OJSC- already broadcast television programs on phones. And the first such service was offered in 2004 by the company "Dream Interpreter", the "daughter" of MegaFon. “In essence, this is a mobile version of Internet TV,” company employees said in an interview with Prime TASS. - Initially, the TV signal is converted to RealMedia and 3GP mobile video formats. And the transfer of information in these formats to the subscriber’s phone takes place via GPRS / EDGE networks. ”
Experts believe, however, that the services available from domestic mobile companies can be called mobile TV only conditionally. Broadcasting needs a separate technology - such as theDVB-H standardDVB-H networks are tested in Finland, England, France, Italy, Germany.
In Russia,DVB-H technology also began to take its first steps. Digital Broadcasting Company (DTV), a subsidiary of Sistema Mass Media, a member of Sistema JSFC, announced plans this spring to build a network based on the DVB-H standard5-15 per month for the transfer of national channels and products of Sistema Mass Media OJSC. By 2010, DTV counts on 500 thousand mobile television subscribers only in Moscow.
Perhaps VimpelCom will join the mobile television industry when theDVB-H standard
However, MegaFon also admits that “following the results of two years of work in Moscow, mobile TV is more of an image service than a killer application.”
“3G networks are needed for better reception,” says Boris Ovchinnikov, head of research at J'son & Partners , “but so far there has not even been a competition for licenses for third-generation networks, and there will obviously be no networks themselves before 2008.”
His words echo those of Mobile Research Group analystEldara Murtazina: “I strongly doubt that Russia will be one of the first countries where mobile TV appears. We have even simple additional services are not very common, to say nothing of such complex as mobile TV. "
Among the major operators in Russia, only Vimpelcom OJSC does not provide mobile TV services - the company has its own reasons. The remaining members of the Big Three are MegaFon OJSC and Mobile TeleSystems OJSC- already broadcast television programs on phones. And the first such service was offered in 2004 by the company "Dream Interpreter", the "daughter" of MegaFon. “In essence, this is a mobile version of Internet TV,” company employees said in an interview with Prime TASS. - Initially, the TV signal is converted to RealMedia and 3GP mobile video formats. And the transfer of information in these formats to the subscriber’s phone takes place via GPRS / EDGE networks. ”
Experts believe, however, that the services available from domestic mobile companies can be called mobile TV only conditionally. Broadcasting needs a separate technology - such as the
In Russia,
Perhaps VimpelCom will join the mobile television industry when the
However, MegaFon also admits that “following the results of two years of work in Moscow, mobile TV is more of an image service than a killer application.”
“3G networks are needed for better reception,” says Boris Ovchinnikov, head of research at J'son & Partners , “but so far there has not even been a competition for licenses for third-generation networks, and there will obviously be no networks themselves before 2008.”
His words echo those of Mobile Research Group analystEldara Murtazina: “I strongly doubt that Russia will be one of the first countries where mobile TV appears. We have even simple additional services are not very common, to say nothing of such complex as mobile TV. "