Telefonica, Vodafone, Amena may team for TV

According to reports in local newspapers, Spanish operators Telefonica Moviles, Vodafone and Amena may jointly file for a DVB-H mobile-TV license in Spain. Many expect the Spanish government to award the license by early next year, but the government has yet to determine which frequency DVB-H will run on. Only Finland has launched commercial DVB-H mobile-TV services through Digita.

The report follows mobile-TV moves in Spain by the carriers: Telefonica conducted mobile-TV trials in conjunction with Nokia and Abertis Telecom from September 2005 to February 2006. Amena, part of France Telecom's group, launched a mobile TV service called TV Movil Personal, with 19 channels last month. While Abertis, which runs the largest television network in Spain, has not been a part of these preliminary talks, should the carriers decide to compete with each for the bid, insiders say the government would likely turn to Abertis as a neutral player.

For more on the Spanish mobile-TV market:
- take a look at this article from AFX