Execs urge EU to reconsider mobile TV standard

A panel of wireless industry leaders assembled in Brussels Tuesday at a regulatory workshop organized by mobile TV industry lobby group FLO Forum to urge the European Commission to support competing mobile TV standards rather than forcing operators conform to DVB-H technology. Mobile execs and experts argued that the ongoing evolution of mobile TV demands time and market flexibility to determine which technological standard will dominate: "Why would you wish at this early stage to insist on any particular standard when we do know that many other possibilities are available?" said Jens Arnbak, chair of tele-information techniques in the electrical engineering department of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, according to MarketWatch. Added FLO Forum president Kamil Grajski, "Consumers aren't that interested in the technology wars. Consumers benefit from technology neutral regulation."

European Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding plans to call for standardized DVB-H deployment this summer, believing operator rollout will accelerate if a single industry standard is in place across the 27-nation European Union. Without a single standard, Reding said "It will be impossible to invest with confidence in new innovative technologies."

For more on the FLO Forum talks:
- read this MarketWatch article

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