Although mobile TV services are up and running in Russia, questions marks still remain as to whether DVB-H will be used as a standard.
Commenting on the development of mobile TV in the country, AKTR and Comnews say the first service made its debut in January 2003 and employed the DVB-T standard, allowing for reception through TV sets installed in cars.
Although VimpelCom began a DVB-H trial through its subsidiary Dominant three years later, trials continue and no service is yet operating on a commercial basis.
One of the reasons for this is apparently because no competition has been held for licences and to initiate such a competition requires potential candidates to send requests to the Ministry of Communications.
In the meantime, Vimpelcom recently launched a mobile TV service employing different technology, using mobile internet to deliver packages of TV channels.
Other companies, including Sistema Mass Media, are also unwilling to commit themselves to DVB-H.
One of the main obstacles to the adoption of the DVB-H standard in Russia is believed to be the high cost of reception equipment.
