China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has issued a circular banning local departments to promote mobile television services before a unified technical standard comes out.

SARFT says in the circular, which is titled "Notice on Regulating the Experiments on Mobile Digital Multimedia Broadcasting Technology", that the mobile digital multimedia technology is at an early stage, so it should not be promoted by any means before a formal standard is set.

SARFT says that the management of mobile digital multimedia technology should be strengthened and without SARFT's approval, no party shall start any tests or carry out the service.

SARFT is currently making the relevant standard based on the test results in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. The standard is expected to come out soon.

The mobile television service mentioned by SARFT refers to the mobile digital multimedia services broadcast through radio and television networks, including providing radio/television programs or other information to users of mobile phones, PDAs, MP3 players, digital cameras and laptop computers.