Our take...
Those new figures clearly indicate that mobile TV has the potential to attract new customers. Although France has not yet deployed a dedicated mobile broadcast network like Italy, it has managed to sign up has many subscribers. The quality of the 3G network, content availability (i.e. between 70 and 80 TV channels), and the deployment of appropriate business models are the reasons for this strong customer uptake. However, if subscriber growth and service usage keep on the same trend, advanced wireless cellular technologies used by mobile operators would not be able to cope with the demand. Next year's sporting events such as the European Football Championships and the Olympics are expected to push mobile TV adoption even further. France will need a mobile broadcast network by then in order to keep up with the demand and maintain service quality. Although DVB-H mobile TV licences are to be awarded by the CSA early next year, licence holders still have to decide upon the selection of an infrastructure provider and which business models to adopt. Screen Digest seriously doubts that France will manage to deploy a nationwide mobile broadcast TV network before the end of 2008.