TV on the go

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: Want to watch Sachin hitting a century live on TV on your way back from office? Or maybe, the latest episode of the Saas-Bahu soap, while on the move. Live TV on mobile phone is sure an exciting prospect in a country with over 230 million mobile phone connections and 120 million TV homes.

After scoffing at the idea of watching videos on a small screen, users and reviewers globally are gradually warming up to the idea of mobile TV. In India, groundwork for these services has already begun. Telecom and broadcasting regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has just rolled out its recommendations for launching these services. Handset manufacturers are waiting in the wings to commercially launch mobile TV in India. A niche section of the society is upbeat about the concept of entertainment-on-the-go. Considering that one in six people around the globe own a mobile phone and TV viewing is one of the most popular pastimes, the potential for mobile TV in India seems huge in the long run. Industry is hopeful of 5-8 million mobile TV users in India by 2010.

Its popularity could be higher in Asia. A Gartner study found that 20% of Asians like to get this service on their mobiles compared to only 5% of the Europeans showing interest in watching TV on their cell phones. Informa Telecoms & Media has projected that the Asia-Pacific market will have 68.4 million mobile broadcast TV users (55% of the world’s total) by 2010.

While South Korea had a head start in broadcast mobile TV, Japan has also been quick to embrace the opportunity and deploy new services. In the US, where people commute in self-driven cars, the revenue through mobile TV is not as high as in markets like Japan where people use a lot of public transport and spend a lot of time commuting. The Indian market is somewhat similar to Japan, say industry experts.

The deployment of mobile TV in India is expected to offer new business opportunities for content and broadcast companies, mobile service providers, infrastructure and handset manufacturers, and technology providers. Mobile operators hope an additional income of about Rs 250-500 a month from each mobile TV user will boost average revenue per user (ARPU), which are constantly declining due to fierce competition in the market.