Frost & Sullivan gets behind DVB-H

The DVB-H market is set to explode from $60 million in revenues last year to more than $2 billion in 2010, according to new figures from Frost & Sullivan.
The market research firm said DVB-H technology, which supports the broadcast of video to mobile devices like cellphones, offers a better delivery mechanism for video than competing technologies. The firm said DVB-H demonstrates speeds of roughly 15 frames per second, “which seem to be sufficient for existing screen sizes and resolutions.” The technology will also benefit from its open-standard status, Frost & Sullivan claimed, which has resulted in a broad swath of supporters.
DVB-H is one of a number of technologies for mobile TV services. Other technologies include DMB, ISDB-T and MediaFLO. In the United States, Crown Castle International Corp.’s Modeo and Aloha Partners’ Hiwire effort are building DVB-H networks.
But while DVB-H may offer decided advantages over other mobile video technologies, it still faces the same questions regarding business and revenue models, the firm warned. And while a variety of payment models-including pay-per-view, event-based, subscription and interactive services-could prove lucrative, the most important challenge mobile video faces may be optimizing the battery life of mobile phones.
“Mobile operators would need to differentiate their offerings and provide value to ensure customer loyalty and remain profitable,” said Frost & Sullivan analyst Nagarajan Sampathkumar. “This also means that mobile operators are likely to serve only as a link to customers and would not be in a position to negotiate for better revenue splits with others in the value chain.”