TRA awards mobile TV licence to Etisalat/Du consortium

A consortium comprising of Etisalat, Du, Abu Dhabi Media Company, Dubai Media Incorporated, Emirates Communications and Technologies Company, a subsidiary of TECOM Investment, and MBC has been granted a licence to provide mobile TV broadcasting services for 10 years. The licence fee amounts to AED 17 million (US$4.6 million), with an additional royalty also be applied on the company. The TRA has agreed to grant the consortium exclusivity to provide the broadcast mobile TV for five years that will end on December 31, 2014.

The consortium has selected to utilise DVB-H technology, and will provide its services to Etisalat and Du, which will in turn offer a variety of competitive and exclusive mobile TV packages to their subscribers. With that, the TRA says it has maintained competition between the companies and reduced the capital expenditure of building networks in the UAE, which will have a positive impact on end-user pricing.

The company is expected to provide at least 13 channels for subscribers of the live TV broadcasting service. The service is expected to commence in Q410 and will cover majority of the UAE population. The UAE will be the first country to issue such licence in the region.