Mrs. Reding strongly believes that the adoption of open standards, understood as open technologies that favour a fairer and a more competitive market, lower prices and interoperability, is a key tool in that respect.  These open standards mean DVB.

Concerning Mobile TV, she underlined the steps given so far. These steps are the adoption of a comprehensive European Union (EU) Strategy for Mobile TV, which supports the combination of DVB-H, the use of UHF band, and launch of a process highlighting good practices regarding authorisation regimes. The Member States (MS) and the mobile TV industry, she said, have accepted these proposals. She defined mobile broadcasting as “the opportunity to increase the consumption of TV, hence to multiply prime time window and hence advertising revenues; the opportunity to increase ARPU (Average Revenue per User) on mobile phone subscriptions and to increase revenues for content creators; and the opportunity for the software and hardware industries to bring new products to the market”.

Next steps led by the EC:

• The inclusion of DVB-H, which perfectly complements with DVB-T, among the EU List of Standards.  Mrs. Reding stressed that this open standard is increasingly the choice of other countries around the world and the best option to promote the broadcasting and telecom markets and renew the business model of TV. “The choice of DVB means the possibility of economies of scale and optimal use of frequencies”, she said.
  
• For June a Communication dealing with the international dimension of the EC’s information society policy is planned.  The penetration of mobile and IP-based technologies is a worldwide trend and there is a need to tackle interoperability. From Latin America to Asia, “we must keep on working hard to convince regulators and industry all over the world to make the choice of DVB-T and DVB-H as technologies enabling better than their competitors the roll-out of interactive valued-services such a healthcare, education or public administration, and ensuring the full complementarily of terrestrial and handheld TV services”, emphasized Mrs. Reding.  

Other next steps called by the EC:

• As regards the DVB-H patent holders, these have to come up with an agreement over the licensing terms and conditions and the constitution of a patent tool, taking into account two elements: (1) fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory principles; and (2) ensuring reasonable intellectual property rights’ costs. This will enable the wide adoption of the technology.
  
• The DVB-H community should promote digital rights management systems based on open technologies. In this sense, she made a call on all players implied to come with a proposal for an open technology for mobile broadcasting rights management.
  
• The adoption of a cooperative business model for mobile TV. Mrs. Reding announced for the next months guidance on authorisation regimes and best practices examples for a light-touch regulatory regime for mobile TV. “Is not the right time to impose must carry-obligations”, she said.
  
• An adequate allocation of frequencies for mobile broadcasting services in the UHF band.

Beyond the adoption of DVB-H, the Commissioner said that the EC is looking with strong interest at the DVB-SH, developed for satellite transmission of mobile TV. For the Commissioner, DVB-SH is also an open standard that favours flexibility and affordable prices and has the advantage of being a member of the DVB family.

As for the digital dividend, the EC’s responsible for Information Society and Media is convinced of creating a win-win situation. She highlighted the “historic opportunity we have today with the switch off of the analogue TV signal”, which “is grandly facilitated by the choice of DVB-T and the economies of scale it allows”.  For her, the high-quality radio spectrum that will become available is a major boost to wireless communications, including broadcasting applications, and should be used in the benefit of consumers. Mr. Reding raised also the question of the disputes between broadcasters and telecom operators, considering it useless and calling both players to look at how to create a win-win situation.

In order to reap the full potential of the digital dividend, the Commissioner stressed the EC’s intention of adopting a coherent framework with common objectives. The aim is to achieve  “more transmission capacity and more protection against interference by increasing spectrum management efficiency beyond what can be done at national level”.

Next steps:
Adoption of a Communication dealing with the international dimension of the EC’s information society policy: June 2008.
Guidelines on authorisation regimes and best practices examples for a light-touch regulatory regime for mobile TV: coming months.
Inclusion of DVB-H among the EU List of Standards: intention to do so in the coming months.

To read Viviane Reding speech, please click here