Though just over 10 percent of wireless Europeans are allegedly riding the 3G wave, the picture's looking a lot prettier when you compare the adoption rate of mobiles to their tethered equivalents. A survey commissioned by the European Union suggests that roughly 24 percent of households have moved exclusively to cellphones to take care of their telecom needs -- while Finland, Nokia's home turf, came in at a staggering 61 percent. In general, former Eastern Bloc countries are racking up a much higher incidence of mobile-only behavior, apparently because governments have found it easier to concentrate on building out wireless networks rather than a landline infrastructure that could see limited use (in-home broadband excepted, though that's another story altogether).

[Via textually.org]

It may have won approval from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and NAVTEQ shareholders alike, but it looks like the EU's European Commission needs a bit more time to think over Nokia's acquisition of the company, and it's now launched an "in-depth" probe into the matter. According to Reuters, the Commission said that the "proposed merger raises serious doubts with regards to ... competition concerns," although it was quick to add that the decision to open the inquiry does not prejudge the result of the probe. Among other things, the probe will apparently attempt to asses whether the purchase would affect the cost of maps for other companies providing navigation services on cellphones. If all of this has a familiar ring, it should, because it wasn't all that long ago that the EU launched a similar probe into TomTom's similar acquisition of map-maker Tele Atlas.

Having just come off a win in the international roaming department, the European Union is looking for other ways to cut the wireless bills of its many citizens -- and it thinks it knows exactly where to start. The practice of rounding up to the next nearest minute when billing calls is common to a great many carriers across the globe, and the EU says it could be costing folks an average of 20 percent more minutes per month than they're actually using. It's not prepared to take action against carriers just yet, but it says it'll "watch developments very closely" and decide what to do -- if anything -- by the end of the year.

[Via textually.org]

Despite a recent drive to lock down DVB-H as the European Union's single, unified standard for mobile television, a handful of member nations are starting to fight back. On the surface, arguments within the EU's hallowed chambers appear to center around concerns that DVB-H's selection is arbitrary (and when we say "arbitrary" we mean "heavily backed by Europe's own Nokia") and that the powers that be should let the market shake itself out; in reality, though, a large bit of the contention likely has to do with the fact that Germany, the UK, and others have all already kicked off systems using the rival DMB standard. The EU wants to see mobile television blessed with the same overwhelming standardization that blessed GSM back in the day -- preferably in time for next year's soccer and Olympic games -- but we've gotta feel for the companies and countries that have already invested heavily in other networks, too. MediaFLO, what say you?

[Via mocoNews]

The European mobile phone community was rocked by the news today that DVB-H (or Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) is set to become the new standard for mobile TV across the Union. The technology -- a superset of DVB-T -- has been spearheaded by Nokia, and this move is meant to help widen the system's audience. Though the move has been opposed by some EU states, such as Germany and Britain, the standard is being pushed through. "DVB-H will be published by the Commission in the list of official EU standards," said an EU executive, adding that, "As a result, all EU Member States will have to support and encourage the use of DVB-H for the launch of mobile TV services, thus avoiding market fragmentation and allowing economies of scale and accordingly affordable services and devices." So much for our fledgling standard, DVB-X (the X is for extreme).

Qualcomm finding itself in more legal trouble? Say it ain't so! Sure enough, the chip maker is now facing even more heat as the European Commission "has launched formal antitrust proceedings" against it after "mobile phone manufacturers complained it charged far too much for vital technology licenses." The move had reportedly been expected for some time, and while the Commission noted that this would be considered "a matter of priority," no deadline was immediately set for a resolution. Apparently, Qualcomm feels that mobile phone makers were trying to "stifle the competition that it brought to the market," and while the probe could eventually be scrapped, the other outcomes are likely to involve Qualcomm coughing up some dough unless it proves that the allegations were without merit.

The European Union has a habit of liking to get all of its children on the same page when it comes to mobile technology -- think GSM, for example -- so it comes as no big surprise that a new EU proposal looks to put mobile satellite services under its own control and not that of member countries. For service providers, this likely comes as a relief since it means they won't need to visit licensing commissions of 27 individual nations, though that also means it'll be a far more expensive proposition to get licensed. The EU, which hopes to push the proposal through its parliament and members' telecom bosses next year, would then choose one or more providers by 2009 -- just in time for the scheduled launch of a satellite bearing DVB-SH broadcasting capability, coincidentally. Backed by Alcatel Lucent, DVB-SH uses satellites as its primary means of reception with terrestrial repeaters augmenting the signal, making it a great way to blanket all of Europe in glorious mobile TV without the need to roll out DVB-H transmitters everywhere. With a strong backing of DVB-H in its rear-view mirror, it seems like a virtual lock that the SH variant is exactly what the EU has in mind here.

[Via mocoNews]

Time's up, dear European carriers! If you haven't made known your plans to offer up cheaper roaming rates by now, you're about to be called out. Reportedly, the European Commission is readying a web site that would "include the names of operators from all EU countries, whether they have offered the Eurotariff, which kind of Eurotariff they have offered, and those who haven't done anything." Additionally, it was reinforced that the new rates were "not a recommendation, but a regulation," and that customers who were unable to receive their Eurotariff could take their operator to court. 'Course, we highly doubt the legal fees would make this approach worthwhile, but let's not forgot to point and laugh at the nonconformists when the telling site goes live.

A visit to the "mixed signals" department reveals this little gem: just weeks after locking up DVB-H as the mobile TV standard of choice in Europe, the European Union has hooked up with China to push -- wait for it -- DMB. The two standards are, of course, heated rivals in the push for global domination so it's clear as mud why this partnership makes sense -- but sure enough, the newly-formed MOBIDEC project is riding on two years' worth of EU funding to push mobile TV cooperation between Chinese and European firms, and WorldDMB (DMB's marketing machine) is deeply involved. Of course, neither DVB-H nor MediaFLO have been approved for use in China, so maybe the EU's thinking here is that a multinational standard is better than a proprietary format. Still, though, it's a little weird.

[Via mocoNews]

Making official what already appeared inevitable, the European Union says that it intends to add DVB-H as the standard of choice for mobile terrestrial broadcasts across its lands. For all practical purposes, the choice was little more than a formality; despite lobbying from South Korea for adoption of T-DMB, DVB-H was already gaining ground as the de facto protocol across most European countries (Germany being a notable exception), and it certainly helps when Nokia and the EU itself have both poured money into its development. Qualcomm's MediaFLO appears to have come in a distant third place, having being eliminated early on by the EU for representing a "proprietary solution." Someone want to clue in Verizon and AT&T on that bit?

[Via mocoNews]

For a good percentage of chatters in these parts, roaming is very rarely a concern; modern rate plans have been constructed in such a way that even if you are roaming from time to time, you don't notice -- not even when your bill arrives. For Europeans, though, you can imagine that roaming might suck, seeing how you've got all those countries in pretty tight quarters. The European Union met recently in an effort to agree on caps for international roaming rates (and whether consumers should automatically be moved to the new pricing structures), but -- surprise, surprise -- representatives came away empty-handed. At issue seems to be the fact that the European Parliament wants rates capped at 40 euro cents (about $0.54) per minute for making calls and 15 euro cents (about $0.20) for receiving them, while constituent nations are gunning for something a little higher. Carriers, naturally, don't want hard caps at all, citing the stifling effect they'll allegedly have on infrastructure development, but at any rate, the EU's getting back together on May 2 to have another go at the negotiations. Good luck, guys!

[Via textually.org]

At the risk of being forced into lowering their lucrative roaming fees across Europe, Vodafone and T-Mobile have agreed to cut these charges under their own, likely more-favorable terms. See, just yesterday Vodafone announced a drop by 40% for UK customers traveling in some 14 European countries... with a few catches. First, customers must register for a free "Vodafone Passport" which allows punters to be charged at UK rates after suffering a one-off connection fee of 75p ($1.38) per call. Kind of the equivalent of those mail-in rebates companies know we'll forget to return. Oh, and the discount won't go into effect until April 2007. T-Mobile is taking a different, more straight-up approach by charging a flat rate of 55p ($1.02) per minute for calls in Europe and North America starting June 1st -- a 27% savings over existing contract rates. It's not clear if these changes will appease the concerns of EU Commissioner Vivian Reding, but at least it's a step in the right direction.