No need for the big black box

Mobile-TV

I am feeling it because it is nearly here. South Africa has come alive as the 2010 FIFA World Cup is soon to hit. I can already hear the buzzing sound of vuvuzela’s being blown at all times of the day. Proud South Africans can be seen wearing their Bafana Bafana shirts. With all this excitement surrounding me, I began to wonder how I was going to watch the games as June/July was turning into a very busy two months, regardless of the soccer. With this in mind, I thought about how amazing it would be if I could capture the experience on my mobile phone and watch on the go. I decided to go in search to find the easiest and cheapest way to access the soccer games via my mobile phone. However, I was soon disappointed.

FIFA TV Director Niclas Ericson confirmed in April last year that World Cup matches, results and updates will be available on mobile phones.

But the broadcasting and telecoms regulator have plans to issue licenses for the broadcasting of content via cell phones just before June. Isn’t that extremely close to when the soccer is to start? So, this means that the broadcasting and telecoms regulator have not even issued a mobile-TV license?

There is a debate whether this will be done before the World Cup. The preparation for the World Cup began when South Africa won the 2010 World Cup bid in 2004. So, why is ICASA racing to license mobile-TV operators only now, two months before the World Cup is due to start.

Apparently ICASA initially gave companies just three weeks to apply for the new digital mobile television service license, due the7 May, just in time to be finalised before June. Mobile TV Consortium objected to this deadline but with little time left it is said that an extension won't be granted, at this time, as the government has made commitments that there would be mobile-TV services during the tournament. 

However, ICASA received comment on the draft mobile broadcasting regulations, drawn up November 2009. The comments, from MultiChoice, SABC, ETV, Neotel and Telkom and others were used to adjust the regulations. But there were no comments from Mobile-TV Consortium before the final draft.

It is still late to have the final regulations drawn up in only April this year and is unfair to some operators to attempt to reach this deadline. It is virtually impossible for them to be ready in time for the World Cup. Nonetheless, there is some hope that mobile-TV will actually be available in time for the World Cup to begin.

Unfortunately, there are very few handsets in the country capable of receiving the digital video broadcasting handheld (DVB-H) signal which was used by Mutlichoice during a trail run and the price on them are huge. This is worrying and could decrease the amount of people able to use their mobile phones to broadcast the matches. Analysts have also said that mobile-TV won’t be a big phenomenon in the country, because it won’t be utilised as much as SMSs and MMSs.

So, why is there such a push for mobile-TV in South Africa when it won't really benefit South Africans in the long run? Well, maybe it will. With access to GPRS, international roaming, entertainment, mobile-TV, SMS and MMS services, radio, music player and much more on mobile phones there is no doubt that South Africans will be accessing their mobile phone more often and will, hopefully, also have easy access to mobile-TV in the future.

Thanks to James Cridland for the photograph. Follow James's photostream to view more images.