Icasa speeds mobile-TV operators’ licensing

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), which regulates broadcast and telecoms in the country, plans to issue mobile-TV licenses before June, in time for the Soccer World Cup tournament.

The regulator aims to speed up the process, as the government already committed to the availability of mobile-TV service during the tournament.

According to South African publication, Business Day, Icasa councilor Robert Nkuna said there are two multiplexes (up to 12 TV channels on one frequency) to be used for mobile TV, however “no company will be allowed to occupy more than 60% of the multiplex”.

In addition to that, mobile TV licenses will be offered regardless of the technology used to broadcast content via cellphones, to encourage innovation and investment in the project. Only one multiplex has been opened so far for the interested parties, which have three weeks to submit their applications to Icasa.

The second multiplex will be open at a later stage to a second round of pay-TV licences, as Icasa plans to undertake a study to determine whether there is a strong market for more of these services.

MultiChoice is one of the companies who plan to apply for a license. The company has already been testing mobile TV-technology for around three years, streaming content to cellphones in partnership with cellphone operators, using digital video broadcasting handheld (DVB-H) signal. The service is available in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Namibia.

Although mobile-TV in South Africa would be a good idea before the World Cup kicks off, market analysts argue that there are very few handsets supporting MultiChoice’s technology on the market, for example, and handset prices capable of accommodating mobile-TV are far from being affordable to the mass population.

Furthermore, analysts added that mobile-TV won’t be a huge phenomenon in the country, partly because won’t be as much as utilized as MMS for example, but offered as a value-added service on cellphones.