Mobile TV warned to standardize

A European Commission (EC) official recently made a very clear warning to companies involved in the Mobile TV industry - to adopt a single technology. Indeed, EC telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding said that if they do not adopt a single standard, she will do it for them.

Is this big brother trying to control things? Not really. In this case, Ms. Reding is simply trying to insure that Europe does not miss out on the global Mobile TV market, which is only in its infancy now but sure to be a very large market in the near future.

Ms. Reding said that "there is no time to lose" and that she was disappointed in the lack of progress made thus far by the firms involved in standardizing the technology of Mobile TV. She also suggested that if the industry did not act fast that her commission could take the action to mandate a standard for this technology but that she would rather not have to do that.

The clock is ticking and if the European Union wants to be a major player in the global Mobile TV market they had better get moving on this standardization quickly.