Following the political message given by the EC in its Communication of July 18th, 2007 “Strengthening the Internal Market for Mobile TV”, this Communication set out some best practice examples from Member States on how to authorise the mobile TV in the EU. Although the Member States and competent regulatory authorities will decide the regulatory practice, the EC is keen to support the deployment of mobile TV in the EU by providing regulatory guidance on appropriate regulatory practice. The Communication addressed authorisation models at the national level only with reference to the e-communications aspects of regulatory regime, and did not touch upon content licenses.

Mrs. Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media, announced,  "we want to give Member States guidance on how to allow industry to get these innovative services on track as quickly and smoothly as possible. We stand for a collaborative approach between all actors involved including broadcasters, mobile operators and platforms operators, and we oppose heavy regulation or burdensome authorisation procedures for the introduction of Mobile TV in Europe."

At the moment only a few Member States, such as Austria, Finland, France and Germany have adopted legislation for new Mobile TV services. The Commission's guidelines aim to keep up the momentum for Mobile TV at EU-level, in order to create a coherent and favourable regulatory environment for take-off and take-up of this new service.

Under these guidelines practices suggested were:

· Frequencies made available for Mobile TV should be withdrawn if the service has not started within a  reasonable period of time.
· Regulators should keep the authorisation process open to all industry players and create conditions, which encourage cooperation between telecoms operators and broadcasters.
· Authorisation procedures should be open to all market players to ensure a playing flied for different actors in the mobile TV value chain.
· Public Consultation of citizens and all interested should be organised systematically relating on mobile TV employment, the use of digital dividend and financing models.
· One-stop-shop approach (meaning one regulator awarding licenses) and a clear schedule for the award procedure should be announced in decisions to grant mobile TV authorisation.
· A discussion on “must offer” rules for mobile TV services should be organised.

The EC suggests a light regulation and clear licensing regimes to enhance legal certainty needed to rapidly launch Mobile TV offers. To achieve these goals the EC will continue to promote the exchange of information, experience and best practice between national authorities and other stakeholders. The switch-over process from analogue to digital TV and the review of the Telecoms package will facilitate access to new spectrum, which is to be granted to mobile TV services in the UHF band in certain EU Member States. 

Exchanges of information and best practices will go on in the Communications Committee (COCOM).

Background

In July 2007 the Commission proposed a strategy for promoting Mobile TV across Europe. It included the use of the open standard DVB-H as the common standard for terrestrial Mobile TV across Europe. In March 2008, the Commission endorsed the addition of DVB-H to the EU list of official standards. In addition, cross border Mobile TV services using satellite and the DVB-SH standard are likely to start as soon as 2009 in Europe and worldwide.

To access regular updates on EC’s Communications’ and reports on Mobile TV, please click here.

To access the EC’s press release “Commission issues guidelines to get Mobile TV on Europeans' mobile phones”, please click here.

To access the Communication from the EC on Legal Framework for Mobile TV Networks and Services: Best Practice for Authorisation, please click here.