Nokia has hit back at claims that it is backing the wrong horse in the standards war for mobile television.

The company has made a commitment to support the DVB-H standard and will not be supporting the rival DAB standard, which looks like being the first to market in the UK.

Nokia's position was described as "ridiculous" yesterday by the director of one of the UK's largest mobile operators.

"We looked at the two technologies years ago and decided to focus on DVB-H because it's the best technology, particularly when it comes to broadcasting multiple channels," Mark Selby, Nokia's vice president of rich media and music, told vnunet.com.

"As for the claim that we are supporting the standard because we build DVB-H infrastructure, that's just wrong. We don't build DVB-H networks. We, on purpose, have nothing to do with it. It's an open third-party market because we believe in open standards."

Selby acknowledged that the spectrum for DVB-H will not be allocated in all parts of the UK before 2012.

But several comments at recent conferences have indicated that this date might well be brought forward, particularly in light of London's successful bid to host the Olympic Games.