Austria wakes up to mobile TV

Austrian viewers are, for the first time, watching TV on a mobile as Telekom Austria rolls-out a DVB-H pilot in association with its mobile arm, mobilkom Austria.

The pilot, which started September 1 and runs till June 2007, will be viewed by 1000 users over the ‘mobile tv austria’ platform which covers central parts of Vienna.

According to Telekom Austria, the deployment includes access to content specifically designed for mobile TV and is the first of its kind in the country.

The firm said that the pilot is a cooperative venture between two mobile operators and a broadcaster with “each contributing its specific expertise”. Partners on the pilot include: ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation), Hutchison 3G, Siemens Osterreich, ORS (Austria Radio Broadcaster), the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg and the Austrian Regulatory Authority – Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH (RTR).

RTR is investing EUR 1.3m (£0.87m) in the pilot project from the digitalisation fund, Telekom Austria said.