Convergence kings

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Nawras CEO Ross Cormack.

The fifth Arab Advisors Media and Telecoms Convergence Conference concluded in Jordan last month, with key stakeholders agreeing to collaborate on key media and telecommunications convergence projects.

It might appear on the surface that since the first Arab Advisors conference on this subject, there has been little progression in the inevitable convergence of the telecom and media industries.

The reality is that there has been very little for them to collaborate on.

MBC launched its mobile programming division MoBC last year, DVB-H based mobile TV trials have been and gone with commercial services not expected till later this year and IPTV penetration remains limited to a few pay TV platforms and closed networks in hotels and offices.

"The telecommunications and broadcast sectors are two industries that have been dancing around each other globally and locally, but haven't really enjoyed great success working together," claims Ross Cormack, CEO of Omani telco Nawras.

"In the mobile industry, we tend to feel we own customers - so we have an enormous jealousy of anyone addressing our customers through our platforms - and somehow we feel like we are losing control of that."

Du CEO Osman Sultan suggests that although the distinct differences and heritage of the respective industries remains present there is an overall feeling between the two that they are facing what he termed "shared uncertainties".

"It's the coming together of players from completely different backgrounds. These players are used to having their own rules and their own logic for decades, and they are not sharing this with anybody else," says Sultan.

"The good news is that everyone feels like they have to share now, but the bad news is that there are still a lot of question marks over what we have to share."

High mobile penetration in key markets across the Middle East offers a significant potential audience.

Many early adopters in the region have already invested in sufficiently advanced devices to receive mobile TV and would seem willing to make further investment if necessary.

"We believe that customers in the region are eager to access TV services using cellular devices, but I think there needs to be some assessment of the need for information, the addressable market and the speed of technology to market," adds Sultan.

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