Without this method, various degrees of interactivity can be offered, without implying any return channel back from the user to the service provider: Data Carrousel or Electronic Programs Guides (EPG) are examples of such enhanced TV services which make use of “local interactivity”, without any return path from customer to provider.
By 2006, Runcom, the main developer of DVB-RCT, had abandoned it (no deployments due to mobile phone penetration) and switched the expertise to portable WiMax modems and infrastructure, later adding LTE.
Partially the mistaken Internet belief was due to the "It's TV" Proposal in Ireland in 2000/2001 and RTE-NL (now 2RN) 1999 field trials assisted by Runcom.
[citation needed] T-commerce clearly requires a return path from the home back to the digital TV service provider.
From a pure technical point of view, DVB-RCT is built around technologies for digital transmission and information theory; in addition to the benefits of first generation OFDM technology for broadband portable and mobile services, Multiple Access OFDM included in the DVB-RCT specification provides the following characteristics: