Next year China will launch trials of its own technology to enable television broadcasts on mobile phones, with a national roll-out planned ahead of the 2008 Olympics, state media said August 21.
Residents in Beijing, the Chinese capital and host of the Games, will be the first to benefit from the digital multimedia broadcasting technology, which will require a chip implanted in handsets, the China Daily reported.
China's two mobile telecom operators, China Mobile and China Unicom, are expected to sign agreements with phone makers by the end of the month to buy TV-enabled handsets, the China Daily said.
In addition to mobile phones, personal digital assistants and MP4 players will also be able to receive the mobile TV signal, the paper said.
The new technology has been developed in China and does not require the payment of any payment fees to international companies, the China Daily cited the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television as saying.
China's mobile phone TV market is expected to reach 6.05 billion yuan in 2008, the paper said, citing data from the Xinhua News agency.
China has 426 million mobile phone users, eight percent of which are expected to subscribe to mobile TV services in the next five years, the report said.