Hungarian pay TV provider Antenna Hungária, T-Mobile Hungary, Vodafone Hungary and Nokia last week announced the launch of a trial mobile television service in Hungary based on the DVB-H standard. This follows earlier testing of the system last spring.
According to Portfolio.hu, the testing is being conducted in two phases over a platform provided by Nokia Siemens Networks that’s connected to Antenna Hungária’s broadcast network. The first phase will be a technical trial to fine-tune some technological issues related to providing the service to Hungarian mobile operators.
The second phase will examine consumer reactions to the service. The companies are putting DVB-H-enabled Nokia N92 and N77 handsets into the hands of approximately 200 to 300 users, where they will be able to watch 11 TV channels featuring news, sports and music programming. Antenna Hungária and its trial partners will examine user demand, expected consumption patterns and coverage conditions to help fine-tune the business model for the actual service launch, planned for later in the year.
For the spring 2007 trial, Antenna Hungária transmitted programming from four Hungarian public TV channels to Samsung SGH-P910 and Sagem My Mobile TV mobile phones using a 130W transmitter located on Budapest’s Széchényi Hill. Preliminary results showed an indoor field strength of between 60 dBµV/m to 75dBµV/m in buildings within a distance of 5km from the transmitter site.
Antenna Hungária presented these and other findings to Hungarian lawmakers last fall in hopes of proving that mobile TV had a viable future in the country. While the authorities have apparently approved such a service, broadcasters and operators in the country are still waiting for the Hungarian Parliament to sell the digital spectrum space needed for the service. Speaking to Portfolio.hu, Antenna Hungária CEO Jean-Francois Fenech said this was likely to occur during the first half of the year.
For more information, visit www.antennahungaria.hu/en/index.php.
