To transmit television signals to mobile phones in China the broadcasting industry regulator has announced it will require all the country's mobile service providers to use a home developed technology standard.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT) announced the new Satellite Terrestrial Interactive Multi-service Infrastructure (STiMi) benchmark on Tuesday in advance of an international forum for standards for mobile phone television which got underway in Beijing on Wednesday.
   
STiMi was developed by the SARFT-affiliated Academy of Broadcast Science and would be applied across the country from the beginning of next month, a researcher said on Thursday.
   
"The introduction of STiMi, which is China's independent intellectual property right, demonstrates that China has world leading technology in the field and will not have to submit to the standards of other countries," said the researcher. 
   
Compared to cellphone TV standards in other countries the STiMi was better as it used satellites operating in China, he said.
   
Major providers like China Mobile and China Unicom have already set up mobile TV systems of their own and these cellphone services already have more than 1.5 million subscribers.
   
Asked if the new standard would conflict with standards already in use a SARFT official said there were no conflicts of interest between Chinese mobile service providers and SARFT. "The real fight is between the domestic industry and foreign standard makers," he added.
   
However, a source with a major mobile provider said it wouldn't be easy to convert to the new standard.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2006)