Mobile TV growing quickly in Italy

24 July 2006

The world’s first commercial mobile TV service using DVB-H technology was launched in Italy on June 5th. 3 Italia, the mobile network operator that launched the service, said last week that it has signed up 111,000 in the first six weeks of operation.
 The chief executive of 3 Italia was reported in the International Herald Tribune as having said “We didn’t expect the numbers to be this high, and we also didn’t expect the strong growth trend to continue even after the conclusion of the World Cup. Everybody has been saying that mobile television has been overhyped, but so far the vast majority of users have been satisfied with the service, and this bodes well for the future of mobile television.” The operator is aiming to have 500,000 mobile television clients by the end of 2006. The service is currently available in about 2000 Italian towns and cities with 40 being added each day. For more information about the service, visit www.dvb-h.org.