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More than 10 mobile television broadcasting networks will be opened in Africa in time for the football world championships next year, said a senior official at Nokia Siemens Networks, a mobile TV technology provider.

Mobile television broadcasting, the hottest upcoming feature for cellphones only a few years ago, has so far found demand in only a few countries, but the industry is looking for the 2010 World Cup as an opportunity to turn the tide.

Stefan Schneiders, the head of Business Development for Mobile TV at Nokia Siemens, said he expects many African countries to shortly follow Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Namibia, who have launched mobile TV broadcasts.

The World Cup, one of the world's most closely followed sports event, will be held in South Africa in June-July 2010.

"It is a very, very good opportunity. If you are a mobile operator you need something to link your marketing activity with," Schneiders told Reuters in an interview.

World football's governing body FIFA has forecast a record TV audience in Africa for the World Cup, with the cumulative global television audience seen on par with 26.3 billion reached for the 2006 event.

FIFA would be also offering live coverage specifically produced for mobile phones for the first time.

The most successful European mobile TV broadcasting network was launched in Italy ahead of 2006 World Cup.

Phone makers and operators are keen to tap the potentially lucrative market for mobile TV broadcasts, which is expected to reach 7.8 billion euros (6.9 billion pounds) globally in 2013.

But the takeup has so far been held back by a number of factors -- including lack of a clear business model, fights for broadcasting rights, lack of frequencies, numerous different technologies competing for the leading position, and a lack of affordable phone models.

Schneiders said many of these problems have either been solved or they will be solved in the near future, helping a service which was hyped few years too early.

Nokia Siemens Networks sells hardware and software to operators, including Nokia's Mobile Broadcast Solution, which the world's top cellphone maker sold to India's Wipro earlier this year.

(Source: Reuters)