Mobile TV is already growing across Africa. Now the EU has removed an obstacle to growth in Europe.
There’s been some great news for the mobile TV industry and consumers who’d like more access to TV on the go. The European Union has rejected an initial proposal by the EU Commission to impose additional taxes on certain high end mobile phones.
The history to this is that on December 10th last year a proposal was submitted to reclassify some phones as “multi-functional devices,” which would have triggered additional taxes on phones with GPS and TV receivers. The potential impact of such a move is obvious: an increase in handset prices for consumers and a tougher year for the industry at large.
Stefan Schneiders, who looks after Business Development for Mobile TV here was particularly pleased with the news. He said to us that “for a successful Mobile TV offering we don’t only need the frequencies and licenses to be granted, but also a range of competitive, commercial devices that consumers can use to access high quality Mobile TV. I’m really pleased to see that one of the potential obstacles for Mobile TV has been eliminated by the EU.”
We are the number one vendor for Mobile TV Broadcast / DVB-H. Currently, commercial Mobile TV Broadcast services based on DVB-H and OMA BCAST standards are available in Austria, Finland, Ghana, India, Italy, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Malaysia, Netherlands & Switzerland.
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