Notes2Self.net : EU, Business Models

EETimes : EU Commissioner slammed for stance on mobile TV

Stephen McGibbon — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:48:00 GMT

It seems the software industry isn't the only industry wrestling to explain technology neutrality to policy makers. The EETimes reports:-

The head of the WorldDMB organization has made a scathing attack on EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding, for rejecting out of hand all but the DVB-H version of mobile TV for use in Europe.

"It is ridiculous for the Commission to think that only one system can work everywhere! Each country has its own unique requirements and market conditions and the Commissioner's preference for one solution suggests she has failed to grasp that mobile operators and broadcasters need flexibility to develop different business models," said Quentin Howard.

He stressed it was vital for European industry that the market is not restricted to one specific technology but rather that it is able to use different systems tailored to each market. "Technology is a rapidly and continually evolving process and it would be damaging to Europe's economy and its citizens for the Commission to mandate one standard," warned Howard.

The story quotes Commissioner Reding's commments at CeBIT, threatening regulation to enforce a single technology standard for mobile TV if member states failed to evolve a common standard.

"The industry should agree on one single standard. I believe this should be the DVB-H family of standards," said Reding at an EC convened conference on mobile TV at the trade fair. She went on to suggest that if the industry and member states failed to agree on one standard she would be forced to "intervene with regulatory measures."

The European Mobile Broadcasting Council (EMBC) presented a report at the conference which concluded

"there is no urgent need for specific new EU regulation to foster the introduction and development of mobile broadcasting." The report suggests the market should be allowed to decide for itself which technologies are best suited for broadcasting television, radio and data to mobile devices in Europe.

The Council, which EETimes points out includes every major mobile telecoms operator, broadcaster, network provider and technology manufacturer from the member states, has spent the past year studying the mobile technology market in Europe, was set up by the Commission last year and charged with making proposals to nurture mobile broadcasting in Europe.

The EMBC recommended technology neutrality and said the Commission "should not favour any one technology over another."

Someone in Brussels really doesn't like paying their mobile bill.

Stephen McGibbon — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 16:25:00 GMT

First it was roaming, now "Europe to look at cost of sending text messages". I'd say the market for text messages must by any reasonable measure be healthy.

(source)

Of course there are cheaper ways of moving information around but that's not the issue. Rather, this is a business model issue. As The Times reports,

Analysts say that text messsaging accounts for about 15-20 per cent of total UK mobile service revenues — at about £18 billion. James Barford, an analyst at Enders Analysis, said: “A dramatic drop in SMS pricing would be harmful to the operators.”
The importance of text- messaging is underscored by the situation in Japan, where an equivalent of text-messaging that is far cheaper than in the UK is thought to have contributed to a stagnation in voice volumes.

Some companies offer unlimited texting as part of a bundle, some offer pay-as-you-go. My daughter has the option to buy unlimited texts for just one day, or to get text benefits as part of some promotion or other. That's what a market looks like when it's operating. This isn't a competition issue, it's a business model issue.

Some in the European Commission are either confused about the difference or believe that their role is to legislate between business models - a dangerous misconception.

[Update 26/6/06]

3.3 billion text messages were sent in May in the UK, a new record.
the previous UK record was 3.2 billion texts sent in March
person-to-person texts sent across all mobile phone networks averaged 106 million per day last month - 26% y/y growth

source: BBC

[update 30/06/06] The Times - Mobile operators attack plan to regulate texting

Homo homini lupus est.

Stephen McGibbon — Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:05:00 GMT

There's an interesting article here from "The Standard, China's Business Newspaper". The EU's worsening trade deficit with China (currently circa €10b) is hardly news however the following caught my eye :-

The pain is being particularly felt in the 10 countries that joined the EU in May. The mostly ex-communist states are still trying to overhaul their economies and in some areas, have set themselves up in competition to China.

The electronics sector in Hungary has notably lost jobs to China, which has poured investment into cutting-edge sectors such as production of dynamic random access memory chips to leapfrog past eastern European rivals.

Whereas Chinese exports of information-technology goods to the EU-15 countries rose by about 25 per cent over 1996-2002, they soared by more than 50 per cent to the 10 new members over the same period.

A similar picture is evident in domestic appliances, chemicals and the textiles trade, with the EU-10 taking in far more Chinese imports over 1996-2002 than the richer, older member states.

This brought to mind some of the discussions at the recent Calibre workshop in the Hague.

The organisers ran a workshop session in the afternoon and divided the audience up into 8 or so groups who then used De Bono's Thinking Hats to assess the role of libre software in Europe's secondary software industry. Each team was named after a philosopher and was asked to find a quotation to summarise their results presentation. One team (that included Simon Phipps from Sun) came up with Jean Paul Satre's "Hell is other people", another Hobbes' "Homo homini lupus [est]".

The common theme was that these companies felt threatened by China. Being a libre software promotion event the specific concerns were mainly around the fact that China would consume EU funded research and innovation and comply with the terms of the libre license.

The point is subtle and sometimes missed - libre software depends just as much on respect for intellectual property as non-libre software.