Last year, in this column I was exploring the developments in the mobile TV arena, hoping that the convergence of mobile phones and broadcast TV would result in a killer application that would infuse new life into cell phone markets and mobile devices around the world. And, that 2006 FIFA World Cup would be a proving ground to further fuel this technology and market. While field trials have begun and service has commenced in a few parts of the world, I haven't seen or heard much excitement about this technology and related services. Part of the problem is a multitude of standards and frequency bands and the high cost of delivery. Since mobile TV is being rolled out in diverse geographical pockets, in multiple technologies, and manifold frequency bands, the end result will be relatively high-cost handsets, according to a new report released by market research firm Telecom Trends International. The report titled, “Mobile TV: The Killer App?” points out that these handsets will essentially be out of reach of the very population that are the biggest potential users of the service — the youth.

Speaking of mobile TV standards and frequency bands, there are quite a few. Europe's digital video broadcast-handheld (DVB-H), a mobile version of terrestrial DVB-T, and Qualcomm's MediaFlo are in contention with digital multimedia broadcast (DMB), and Japan's ISDB-T. While China's broadcast regulators are opting for their own digital multimedia broadcast-terrestrial/handheld (DMB-T/H) standard, which has been in the works for a few years now. And, it will soon be officially unveiled.

“Unless the industry puts its act together, it will be in for a major shock as mobile TV will not be able to fulfill its promise, said Naqi Jaffery, president and chief analyst, Telecom Trends International.

Facing such challenges and seeing the potential mobile TV has to offer, tuner suppliers are readying solutions to tackle this multiple standards issue. Market research firm In-stat projects that mobile TV broadcast subscribers worldwide will reach 102 million by the end of 2010, a giant leap from 3.4 million in 2006. This year marks the first deployment of mobile TV services in Europe, a significant move from engineering trials to full commercial rollout.

To address this market fragmentation, several suppliers of integrated high-performance tuners have unwrapped monolithic multistandard, polyband tuners that can provide the answers to these problems. For instance, Microtune is developing polyband universal tuners that can handle multiple mobile TV standards to reach global markets. Meanwhile, U.K.-based fabless start-up Mirics Semiconductor, has launched what it claims is the world's first polyband tuner for mobile digital broadcast reception. It enables designers of mobile phones, portable media players and PDAs, to easily add mobile broadcast reception to support any global standard. Plus, it offers the lowest power consumption and lower cost. According to Mirics, its SiGe biCMOS chip is capable of re-ceiving all broadcast standards announced to date, including DVB-H, T-DMB, ISDB-T, DAB-IP, MediaFlo, DAB, DRM and even AM/FM, as well as the upcoming Chinese DMB-T/H. Plus, it can be configured for the reception of other standards, or unknown future standards, without any cost or performance penalty.

Likewise, Siano Mobile Silicon, a fabless semiconductor maker of solutions for mobile digital TV (MDTV) has readied a low-cost, ultra low-power, quad-band multistandard receiver that supports DVB-H, DVB-T, DAB, enhanced packet mode DAB (IP-DAB) and T-DMB mobile digital standards, in various spectrum ranges. Recently, Intel tapped Siano's multistandard receiver solution for its 3G multimedia reference platform.

To enter this race, Analog Devices recently acquired Korea's Integrant Technologies.

Many more will join the fray with competing multistandard tuner chips. There is no dearth of tuner suppliers. But, what about the demodulators? They too must be capable of handling multiple standards of mobile broadcast TV if this market is to be exploited fully. And, if multistandard demodulators can be integrated with polyband tuners in a single cost-effective package, we can say we have the holy grail for mobile television.