LONDON -- Members of WorldDMB -- the organization which promotes the adoption and implementation of Eureka 147 based technologies -- strongly criticized, and said they "continue to be mystified" by, the European Commission's unilateral support of DVB-H for mobile television in Europe, apparently to the exclusion of all other mobile TV standards, including those developed by European industry such as T-DMB.

On Wednesday (July 18), EC Commissioner Viviane Reding said European governments and industry should encourage the implementation of DVB-H for mobile TV reception, and she warned the Commission could mandate DVB-H as a common standard.

The WorldDMB trade body stressed T-DMB is the world's most successful mobile TV standard with millions of devices already in the market. It is widely used in Korea, and is the only European technology for mobile TV sanctioned by China's state regulator.

It added that Reding ignored the Commission's own expert device in insisting on a single technology, and that her stance, rather than being a positive for European companies and investments, "threatens jobs and investments" in Europe.

The Commission, the group stressed, consulted with "all main industry players" via the European Mobile Broadcasting Council (EMBC). It then ignored the counsel of that group which advocated platform neutrality for mobile TV in Europe.

It also ignored the advice of device manufacturers who say that the need for only one technology is unnecessary.

Quentin Howard, President of WorldDMB, commented: "We, like most of the industry, have always advocated a multi-standard approach including DMB and DVB-H. Europe's citizens and economy will not benefit from EC intervention that restricts technology and innovation."

WorldDMB members from across Europe including the U.K., Germany, Italy, France, Denmark and Norway believe that mandating only DVB-H risks isolating Europe when the huge Asian markets of China and Korea have already adopted DMB for mobile TV.

Indeed, just two weeks ago, Italian public broadcaster RAI announced it has opted for DMB instead of DVB-H for mobile television services. Stefano Ciccotti, chief executive of network provider RaiWay said that a national DVB-H network would have cost Euros 300 million. Extending the existing DMB network in Italy would cost just Euros 8 million.

Leif Lonsmann, Director of Radio at Danish Radio, pointed out that "mobile TV is not just for telecoms operators; many radio broadcasters who already have spectrum and investment in digital radio infrastructure are expanding their remit to include Mobile TV. Where does this fit into Commissioner Reding's plan?"

One of the Commission's key requirements is that a mobile TV device works seamlessly in all 27 EU States. However, Howard says: "Interoperability is an ideal which has little to do with old fashioned ideas about a single technology. One indisputable fact is that spectrum is not available in every state for the DVB-H standard. But perhaps the biggest challenge to interoperability will be the different encryption standards selected by various EU states and telecoms operators."

The Commission, Howard warns, has not addressed these major barriers to interoperability.

The WorldDMB group's response on Thursday (July 19) notes that DVB-H would have to wait up to five years for spectrum to become available in many countries, while T-DMB allows the majority of European states to roll out mobile TV services immediately.

It adds interoperable silicon chips have already been developed so that years before DVB-H spectrum is available in some states, receivers capable of delivering DAB, T-DMB and DVB-H via one chip will be available.

Anthony Sethill, CEO of digital radio and mobile TV chip specialist Frontier Silicon, said that, while being standards agnostic, "we see little benefit from Europe restricting itself to DVB-H. In many countries where spectrum is at a premium, limiting mobile TV broadcasts to just DVB-H will severely hamper its uptake and will weaken European companies looking to compete in regions where other standards are prevalent."

The WorldDAB group also queried the Commission's suggestion that DVB-H could utilize spectrum in L-band and so bypass the need to wait for spectrum to become available. It stressed access to L-band is an essential part of the successful roll out of DAB/DAB+ and DMB services in Europe. Using it as a "fall-back" for DVB-H could lead to fragmentation of L-band and render it incompatible for use in Europe. This would seriously damage the very interoperability the EU is keen to promote.

It added that to "steal" L-band spectrum for DVB-H would undermine the potential for free-to-air audio services using DAB based technology in Europe and could permanently damage digital roll-out in many countries.

"It is astonishing, in a democracy, that Madame Reding would like to mandate one technology over another for mobile TV in Europe. All of us in the broadcasting industry know the different prerequisites in terms of population, topography and spectrum availability requires different technologies to be cost and spectrum efficient," commented Kenneth Lundgren, Managing Director, Factum Electronics AB. T-DMB, the group suggests, ticks all the Commission's boxes when it comes to mobile TV broadcasting. It has been adopted by many countries in Europe and beyond; spectrum is already available for immediate roll out; it is already interoperable with other standards. Being a European technology, developed from EU funding and ratified in ETSI standards, many high-tech European companies and jobs have already been created to support T-DMB. The Commission should explain its logic in excluding successful European standards, such as DAB/DAB+/DMB from its list of recommended technologies.