Asia will be the powerhouse of a burgeoning market for mobile TV as the number of people receiving mobile TV services reaches 485 million by 2013 according to a new analyst report published Cantab Wireless.

The report, ‘"Mobile TV - Technologies, Country Cases, and Forecasts for 2008-2013", anticipates user growth to be strongest first in Asia, especially in Korea and Japan and then from 2010 onwards when Europe and the US will likely catch up.

Cantab Wireless points out that one key hindrance for European market development is the shortage of radio spectrum before the analogue TV networks shutdown which may delay the launch of mobile TV networks in some countries, most notably in the UK.

It also predicts that from 2012-2013 onwards, cellular operators may start providing mobile TV services via upgraded 3.9G/4G networks that which will offer greatly increased capacity. At this point, the analyst believes the telcos' offerings will become serious competitors to broadcast TV systems.

The main topics of the report include a technical overview of the broadcast mobile standards; : mobile TV country / area cases for Korea, China, Europe and the USA; an overview of mobile TV satellite systems; mobile TV terminal types, and market forecast by type; mobile TV usage patterns; mobile TV content, including assessing what do customers want to watch; discussion of different Mobile TV business models; a review of spectrum allocations; market forecasts by area and by technology, in hard numbers.

Even though the report has a full review of the various mobile TV standards, the analyst firm say that this could be a secondary issue. As the author of the report, Dr Juha Korhonen, points out, even more important than choosing the right technical standard is choosing the right business model".

Indeed, Cantab Wireless's report says that it is not yet obvious on how to make money in the Mobile TV business. It regards the mobile TV business as a contested area between two established businesses, broadcast TV and cellular telephony and suggest that both parties need each other and a successful mobile TV system has to find a business model which benefits both parties.