O2, Arqiva (previously known as NTL Broadcast) and Nokia are inviting Ofcom bosses to Oxford in a month for a demonstration of its 16-channel trial of up to 400 Oxford residents.
The firms hope Ofcom executives will be so impressed by the service, unveiled in Oxford yesterday, that they will fast-track plans to licence such services.
Ofcom has told O2 that they will make no decision until 2006 at the World Radio Conference and that frequencies may not be licensed until 2008 or later when digital switchover takes place, releasing more spectrum.
Dave Williams, chief technology officer for O2, said says his worry is that the UK might miss the mobile broadcasting boat altogether as other European and American telecoms companies get a head start and move into other territories.
"Part of the reason for this trial is to educate our regulator on the value of this service. There is an open invitation to Ofcom a month into the trial to come up to Oxford and see what its all about," added Williams.
"We would like clear guidance from Ofcom. OK wait until 2006 but let's not wait until 2009 because we will lose some of the market space in the UK."
Regulators in Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and some areas of the US either have or are on the brink of allocating their frequency for mobile phone TV.
An Ofcom spokesman emphasised that the spectrum that they need is currently used by analogue television and so cannot be freed up until digital switchover.
In Oxford the trial is using DVB-H - which is the mobile version of traditional broadcast transmissions - to deliver its channels including all the terrestrial channels, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Travel, British Eurosport, CNN, Discovery Channel, BBC News 24, Shorts TV, and MTV.
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