Recent offerings from MultiChoice and Vodacom may offer television on a cellular phone, but it is a far cry from true mobile TV.
Rather, delays in regulations have forced market players to rely on alternative technology to offer a sub-standard service.
MultiChoice and Vodacom recently teamed up to offer DStv Mobile, providing subscribers with 11 channels for R59 a month or R19 a week.
Only a week later, Vodacom is partnering with On Demand Group to release its own so-called mobile TV, offering a variety of series and videos to subscribers at R75 per month, or R20 per week.
But WWW Strategy MD Steven Ambrose has criticised the services offered by both companies, saying it is crippled at best and not very compelling. He explains there is a lack of clarity between mobile TV and mobile TV broadcasting.
In the case of these services, a solid 3G connection is required. Given the nature of 3G, even when it works, it is not ideal because it gets poled, which means that if someone between you and the pole connects, you will get disconnected. So it's not the ideal technology for streaming, explains Ambrose.
What these services should be aiming for is DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) - a system that uses point-to-multipoint transmission, and is not subject to the same limitations on bandwidth and quality as 3G.
Things will change when mobile TV offerings are based on DVB-H. This technology is both faster and practical, and the price of the service should theoretically come down, maintains Ambrose.
But confusion at the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) earlier this year, regarding the issuing of licences for DVB-H, saw three players disqualified for not following instructions in the invitation to apply.
Now the regulations are in limbo, with no clear indication as to when a new round of applications will be opened.
Red-taped regulations
The first ITA was issued on 16 April, giving broadcasters only thee weeks to submit a full business plan, technical specification and gather the R70 000 application fee.
At the time, ICASA chairman Paris Mashile explained that the Mobile TV Consortium did not have a broadcast licence, which is a requirement for the application, and that was why the authority disqualified it. According to Mashile, MultiChoice did not submit its application to the regulator in time, disqualifying it from the process.
Super5Media submitted its application on time. However, it did not bind nine of the 25 copies of its submission, making it ineligible to proceed with the process.
Mashile said etv was the only broadcaster to have everything in on time and it will now be awarded a licence to broadcast mobile TV.
But industry objections forced the authority to review the initial process. “With regard to the initial process where etv was the only applicant that qualified with the preliminary requirements, the process is at an advanced stage and we will be making a pronouncement in due course,” explains ICASA spokesperson Paseka Maleka.
“In terms of the second round of applications, the authority has just concluded the analysis of confidentiality requests subsequent to which a determination will be made with regard to qualification with preliminary requirements,” he adds.
Buffer offering
In the meantime, industry analysts believe players are offering a starter product in anticipation of receiving licences for DVB-H.
Independent analyst Richard Hurst believes MultiChoice is trying to position itself in the market ahead of competition, even if the current form of its mobile TV offering leaves much to be desired.
“It could possibly be a gimmick for high-end users,” theorises Hurst. “But the key is it's a start.”
Once spectrum becomes available, he says, competitors may enter the market and the prices could come down. In the meantime, SA has mobile TV - for what it's worth, he adds.
Ambrose notes that mobile television has not really taken off anywhere. Users are far more likely to get video-on-demand from more traditional Web services like YouTube, than to subscribe to a streaming service.
“The service itself is less than stellar. Forty-five minutes is not compelling. It will appeal to early adopters, but I doubt it will go mainstream,” he concludes.
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