The number of mobile broadcast TV subscribers in Western Europe will total more than 20 million by 2011, according to a report from Juniper Research. However, following the exit of the BT/Virgin Mobile DAB-IP offering from the market, the UK is not expected to relaunch mobile broadcast TV services until 2010 at the very earliest, well behind most of its European neighbors.

"After the successful launch of DVB-H-based services in Italy, many other Western European countries have either drawn up or are drawing up licensing procedures for mobile broadcast TV services. However, the fact that optimal UHF spectrum will not be made available in the UK for several years effectively prevents any medium-term deployment of such services," said Juniper Research analyst Dr. Windsor Holden.

While service providers could opt to utilize L-Band spectrum as an alternative, the additional infrastructure expenditure involved would probably mean that such a venture would not be cost-effective. Juniper Research recommends that, wherever possible, operators should seek to share broadcast network infrastructure as in Germany, where T-Mobile, O2 and Vodafone are planning to utilize a single DVB-H network.

Other key findings from the research report include:

• Mobile broadcast TV revenues in Western Europe will rise from just over $150 million in 2007 to nearly $2.4 billion in 2012
• The largest European market at the end of the forecast period will be Italy, followed by Germany and France.
• Following the European Commission’s quasi-mandate of DVB-H, it is highly unlikely that any future commercial deployments of mobile broadcast TV in this region will utilize an alternative standard.

About this study

Juniper Research's "Mobile TV: Streamed and Broadcast Services" assesses the current and future status of the mobile TV market based on interviews, case studies and analysis from representatives of some of the leading organizations in the growing mobile TV industry.

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