Polish cable operators face a possible future threat of disruption to their signals from still-to-be-introduced broadband Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.
Rzeczpospolita is reporting that cable reception faces interruption from LTE-based services running between 174 and 230 MHz and 470 and 790 MHz. The frequencies are close to those used both by cable operators and digital terrestrial services. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in particular has expressed its concern over the close proximity of the LTE transmissions to the broadcast bands, but a report by Era Technology for the UK regulator Ofcom suggested any problems could be resolved by the use of better quality flyleads.
According to Mariusz Busilo, the director of the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE), negotiations are taking place with the military to secure access to the 470-790 MHz bandwidth.
Jerzy Straszewski, the president of the Polish Chamber of Electronic Communication (PIKE), nevertheless believes that any signal problems will only affect cable operators with poor infrastructure and their numbers are falling as the industry moves to digitisation.
