Colombia offers ‘free’ DVB-H

DVB-H services are proving slow to take off, but Colombia’s National TV Commission says it will permit channels to be broadcast free of charge to mobile phone users with DVB-H kit.


Colombia’s Comisión Nacional de Televisión (CNTV) says licences will be offered at zero cost later this year. Mexican-owned América Móvil's Colombian telco has already said it will be interested in taking a licence.
Colombia is busy installing digital TV (to the DVB standard) and the first transmitters go live this coming May, reaching some 11m people. Initially it will be the country’s public channels that will be seen, but the nation’s private channels are also expected to join in the next few months.