To transmit television signals to mobile phones in China the
broadcasting industry regulator has announced it will require all
the country's mobile service providers to use a home developed
technology standard.???
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The State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT) announced
the new Satellite Terrestrial Interactive Multi-service
Infrastructure (STiMi) benchmark on Tuesday in advance of an
international forum for standards for mobile phone television which
got underway in Beijing on Wednesday.
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STiMi was developed by the SARFT-affiliated Academy of Broadcast
Science and would be applied across the country from the beginning
of next month, a researcher said on Thursday.
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"The introduction of STiMi, which is China's independent
intellectual property right, demonstrates that China has world
leading technology in the field and will not have to submit to the
standards of other countries," said the researcher.?
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Compared to cellphone TV standards in other countries the STiMi was
better as it used satellites operating in China, he said.
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Major providers like China Mobile and China Unicom have already set
up mobile TV systems of their own and these cellphone services
already have more than 1.5 million subscribers.
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Asked if the new standard would conflict with standards already in
use a SARFT official said there were no conflicts of interest
between Chinese mobile service providers and SARFT. "The real fight
is between the domestic industry and foreign standard makers," he
added.
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However, a source with a major mobile provider said it wouldn't be
easy to convert to the new standard.
(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2006)
