The State Administration for Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has announced plans to try DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting) mobile TV services in mid-2007 a year ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Transmission of TV signals to mobiles will be tested in mid-2007 and the satellite system activated in the first half of 2008 so that the Olympic Games can be projected to millions of mobile users across the country.

China's two biggest mobile telecom operators, China Mobile and China Unicom, are expected to sign agreements at the end of the month with mobile phone makers to buy TV handsets.

Besides mobile phones, big-screen personal digital assistants (PDAs) and MP4 players will also be able to receive TV signals, said Yang Qinghua, an official with SARFT's broadcasting science research institute.

China will soon announce its own national terrestrial digital TV standard, said Wang Lian, vice director of SARFT's technology department.

Terrestrial digital TV transmission can deliver signals both to fixed TV sets and mobile televisions such as the ones on buses.

When the trial operation is launched, mobile users will be able to download TV programs from an operator's network or receive signals directly via an integrated mobile chip.

China has more than 400 million mobile phone users and the number is increasing by 5 million a month, according to the Ministry of Information Technology.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2006)