Swisscom plans June DVB-H launch

After winning the licence to operate the country’s mobile TV platform, Switzerland’s incumbent telco, Swisscom has said it will rollout a nationwide DVB-H network by June 2008. Going by the name MoTV, the service will offer 20 TV channels. Test transmission are already planned for February and the operator hopes to have transmitters on the air in the cities of Zürich, Bern, Basel and Geneva before the start of Euro 2008. Swisscom won a licence from the Swiss Federal Communications Commission (ComCom) following a criteria-based competition. The licence award followed a pilot project run by Swisscom, Orange and TDC Sunrise. Other partners withdrew from the joint project, paving the way for Swisscom to emerge as the sole licensee. However, according to Swiss press reports, the financing of the new venture still has to be finalised.