GLOBE Telecom Inc. said its foray into mobile TV may be delayed because of the regulator’s failure to issue guidelines, and of the high price of handsets.
“We don’t know yet [when the service will be offered], because it depends on the handset,” Delfin Gonzales Jr., Globe chief financial officer, told reporters.

The company’s Globe Group Retirement Fund earlier acquired Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media (BEAM), a company that would be used for Globe’s mobile TV venture.

BEAM is a duly authorized broadcast company with facilities in the country’s top urban centers. Globe has an agreement with BEAM so that it can use the latter’s frequency for its mobile TV.

Besides the expensive handsets, the absence of a regulatory policy on mobile TV is also a factor for the company’s rollout of the service, Gonzales said.

The National Telecommunication Commission’s (NTC) failure to issue guidelines on whether the service is a broadcast or telecom, as well as on the kind of standard that should be adopted, had kept potential players from firming up plans.

Rival Smart Communications Inc. and 360Scape offered MyTV service using the European mobile TV platform called Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld (DVBH) in 2007. But this service is not yet commercially available because of the absence of guidelines.

A source from NTC earlier said the government is looking at the possibility of classifying mobile TV as a value-added service (VAS), which would allow both telecom and broadcast companies to offer the service.
There are two ways of delivering mobile TV. One is through two-way cellular network, while the other is through one-way dedicated broadcast network.

If the service is classified as VAS, both telecom and broadcast companies can offer it so “the broadcast entities just have to establish subsidiaries and register as VAS provider,” the source said.

The NTC defines VAS as “enhanced services beyond those ordinarily provided for by local exchange and inter-exchange operators, and overseas carriers through circuit switched networks.”

If mobile TV is classified as broadcast service, then Smart, Globe, Sun Cellular and other telcos with substantial foreign ownership cannot offer the service because of Constitutional limits.

Telecom operators, including foreign entities, consider mobile TV as the killer application that would widen their subscriber bases.

GMA Network Inc., ABS-CBN Corp., National Broadcast Co. and All Asia Broadcasting Inc. are seeking NTC’s authority to install, operate and maintain mobile TV networks.                                  

Darwin G. Amojelar