Hanover, Germany - In an implicit threat to the DMB mobile
television standard that has made rapid strides in South Korea, the
European Union's top telecoms official warned Friday that she had
powers to impose the rival standard that she prefers, DVB-H.
'I could mandate a standard. I don't want to do that. I think that
should be a last resort,' said Commissioner Viviane Reding at a news
conference at the computing expo Cebit in Hanover, Germany.
The two competing formats mark a major divide in the infant
industry of broadcasting television programmes to be watched on the
small screens of mobile phones. The new formats conserve battery
power so that viewers can watch for hours without recharging.
Reding said 400,000 Italian mobile-phone customers were now able
to receive the TV signals in the European Union's biggest DVB-H
launch. Most other countries are only testing the system, with
several trying DMB, which is fitted to many Korean-made mobiles.
The EU had chosen to back DVB-H (digital video broadcasting,
handheld) because it was an open standard and a European one, Reding
said. She said consumers did not care what standard they used and it
was up to EU industry to rally round DVB-H as the sole standard.
Reding said industrial leaders had told her they could not agree
on a single standard.
A survey by the Commission showed 17 EU nations backed DVB-H and
five said they would allow DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting).
Some wireless phone companies want to transmit TV using phone
channels instead of allowing general broadcasts to phone users.
'Someone has to take charge,' said the Brussels-based
commissioner. 'If it has to be done, I'll do it.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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