Doordarshan has begun a pilot project around its transmitters in Delhi. Reliance Communications speculates that 10% of India's 166m mobile customers (buying handsets costing over Rs.10000) could get hooked to this service by around 2010.
Bharti Telesoft speculates that a mobile TV channel bouquet can be made available for between Rs25-50 per month. Yet, mobile TV must cope with many hurdles before it takes off.
Take handset prices. DVB-H compliant handsets have already been announced by Nokia and Samsung. While currently, these handsets cost in the region of Rs 30000 and above, Doordarshan expects other companies to come out with cheaper handsets in the range of Rs 18,000.
Next, while streaming video clips for mobile phones is a big growth area, full-length programming is not feasible yet. Most networks (even in the U.S.) and handsets are not equipped to deal with anything more than video snippets lasting for a few tens of seconds - after that handset batteries quickly drain of power.
As bandwidth capabilities increase, say in 3G/UMTS/EVDO Rev A networks, a lot more is possible, such as video streaming and podcasting - however, there is a heavy strain on battery life.
Carriers are still trying to figure out the right mix of content to offer and at what price. If the price given by Bharti is to be the yardstick, mobile TV may have a chance after handsets get more powerful, and content for handsets gets more plentiful.
In the U.S., mobile video/TV services charge a minimum of $15 per month for basic mobile video/TV access. Given the limited available content and high prices, mobile video/TV usage in the US is currently very low
(with inputs from telecomtv.com)
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