Posts Tagged ‘european commission’

Cheaper roaming data on the way?

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

After capping roaming rates for voice calls not so long ago, EU Commissioner Viviane Reding is now turning her sights on the cost of SMS and data while abroad. It’s all part of the latest consultation from the EC, which is aimed at getting opinions from those in the industry on how the new capped roaming regime is working.

Reding is now also putting the question of “whether regulation is necessary for data roaming services and SMS in light of current retail prices and market development” up for discussion. The last time the Commissioner mooted some new laws to govern roaming, prices for voice minutes abroad tumbled as operators tried to deter the EC from introducing more regulation. Fingers crossed this will have the same effect on SMS and data.

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Posted in SMS | Comments

Europe gives DVB-H the official nod for mobile TV

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

Good news for Nokia, not so great news for Qualcomm and MediaFLO: the European Commission has given the Nokia-backed DVB-H mobile TV standard the official thumbs up by adding it to the EU List of Standards. Now, member states “will be required to encourage the use of DVB-H”.

The Commission has also hinted that it won’t accept proprietary behavious from those involved in DVB-H, saying it wants to see ‘”transparent intellectual property rights regime, based on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and allowing low price of devices” and a transparent patent pool.

It always looked like the Commission was going to give DVB-H the nod, so this week’s announcement isn’t exactly a surprise, but I suspect will still be provoking some glass-raising at Nokia HQ. However, there are still the questions around spectrum, devices and consumer take-up for that matter to be solved before DVB-H actually gets into people’s pockets so don’t hold your breath for broadcast mobile TV any time soon.

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Posted in Mobile TV | Comments

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