Malaysia Explorer

By Oon Yeoh

Plug into the latest on the Internet, mobile and multimedia

Fancy TV on your phone?

Posted in Malaysia Explorer by Oon Yeoh on 2006/10/30 20:27:04

Dublin-based Qtelmedia Group Ltd, which has made Malaysia (Cyberjaya, to be more precise) as its Asian hub, will be offering consumers mobile access to TV for a flat rate of RM20 per month.

According Qtelmedia, there are three reasons why mobile TV has not taken off here:

i) Cost (of accessing video on phones)
ii) Price (of 3G phones)
iii) Content (or lack thereof)

Qtelmedia is addressing these three issues. Firstly, it's offering a low flat fee (with no hidden charges)

Secondly, its technology does not require 3G phones. It works with GPRS- and EDGE-capable phones too.

Lastly, it is seeking out local content partners to provide localized content.

On paper this sounds good but will people want to watch TV or video on their phones? I have my doubts.

Disclaimer:
Views and opinions expressed in this blog are the author's, and do not necessarily represent those of ZDNet Asia.

Talkback 4 comments

Second your opinion. Not all forms of entertainment can go mobile. Watching TV on mobile phones can potentially create more issues than solving it. Among them are disturbances to public if no earphones are used and higher chances of road accidents ;-)
Posted by Chi Howe on Friday, November 03 2006 10:34 AM

Cost, price and content apart, experience of TV over mobile is still not on par with big screen experience. Mobile video is good for entertaining video clips but not for lengthy programs.

Senthil
(web link)
Posted by Senthil Nathan on Saturday, November 04 2006 11:43 PM

Look forward to this TV on phone concept.The content can be edited to be sweet and simple. Great for people on the move,no time to watch TV. Great job Sinead!
Posted by Jason Chin on Wednesday, December 13 2006 07:51 PM

Have you actually seen a game or movie on mobile?

I did and you will be surprise that you could even read the subtitles.

Check out the amount of subscriber now.
Posted by anonymous on Wednesday, January 24 2007 08:29 PM

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About the blogger

Oon Yeoh

Oon Yeoh has been writing an ICT column for The Edge Malaysia, a business weekly, for the past six years. He's also written a book, Transition, about the impact of technology on society. He's currently working on New Media projects involving the convergence of text, images, audio and video.