The Fragmentation of Standards in Mobile Digital Broadcast Carriers

A collection of standards (DVB-H, MediaFLO, DMB and others) compete globally for dominance as the standard radio carrier for mobile digital broadcasting. Based on outcomes of similar "standards wars", insights from multi-sided market theory and a set of structural (including political, regulatory, geographical and technical) constraints, it is argued that there is a significant drift towards a stable fragmentation (coexistence) of these standards. This is seen as an obstacle for the successful proliferation of the technology because of reduced possibility for economies of scale, lowered incentives for market entry and restrictions on handset roaming.