Levira, a broadcast infrastructure company jointly owned by the Estonian government and French company TDF, has partnered with telco EMT to launch a pilot DVB-H mobile TV service in Estonia.
The trial began this month in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital city, and will and will continue throughout the year. Levira, TDF and EMT are testing the DVB-H service with anticipation of a commercial launch despite legislation currently in place that prevents the launch of such a network in Estonia. The companies hope new legislation allowing the service will be put into place in 2009.
For the pilot, the companies are broadcasting seven TV services, all of which are free-to-air but require network ID-based access for EMT customers. The channels being broadcast include ETV, Kanal 2, Kanal 11, MTV Eesti, Seitse, Eurosport and Euronews. Star, Eurosport 2, National Geographic and Jetix are expected to be added as well. The signals are being sent to Nokia N77 receiving devices.
EMT currently have 46 percent of the market in Estonia:
