Norkring Belgium, the owners of the digital terrestrial transmitter networks for TV and radio in Flanders and Brussels, is to upgrade its network to the DVB-T2 standard. The work will start in the first quarter of 2013.
Belgian cable operator Telenet owns the licence to commercially operate the multiplexes to consumers, but has so far not announced any concrete plans.
The company was planning to introduce a DTT offer later this year, but will wait to make any announcements “till a day before we start the service,” according to CEO Duco Sickinghe last February. He said there would be a service operational sometime during the year. It now seems likely that any new commercial offer will not be launched before DVB-T2 is operational.
“After a complete modernization of our network, we want to give an innovative impulse to the existing technology”, said Bart Bosmans, CEO. Norkring Belgium, in a statement.”To ensure that we provide the best services, we have invested in equipment and “human capital” over the past years.
“In a market that constantly evolves it is important to focus on innovation. Norkring Belgium will be one of the first operators offering a full DVB-T2 rollout of its commercial network. Everyone will be able to enjoy mobile TV and radio reception in digital quality based on the most modern techniques.
“The solution makes the signals stronger and more robust for fixed, portable and mobile devices, e.g. receipt in the car, in the garden, camping. Furthermore, this is only a part of our innovation process. We are already looking into the roll out of a commercial digital radio network (DAB +) in the near future.”
Inge Smidts, SVP residential marketing Telenet, added: “Soon we will roll our own terrestrial digital TV product. We are pleased to be able to invest, in collaboration with our partner Norkring Belgium, in an even better DTT network. The customer ‘s viewing experience will benefit from this on a long term.”
At the moment, Norkring Belgium operates the mux of public broadcaster VRT under a managed service. Norkring Belgium owns the licences for additional commercial muxes. Telenet is getting access to the proposed DVB-T services of Norkring.