The European Broadcasting Union has welcomed what it says is the “overwhelming majority” of proposals supporting a no change position on the allocation of spectrum between mobile and broadcast services.
The future allocation of the UHF band 470-694/698 MHz is a key consideration of the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15). There had been calls from a number of countries to reallocate the spectrum largely used for DTT transmissions to mobile services. However, European and African countries, the Arab States, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Asia-Pacific Telecommunication Union, as well as a joint proposal from 14 South American countries are all against such a move.
Simon Fell, EBU Director of Technology and Innovation said: “Contrary to what the mobile lobby would have us believe, terrestrial TV is the most popular TV platform in Europe and in many other regions of the world. It also continues to deliver substantial social and economic value, in particular by providing free-to-air services and facilitating innovation.”
One of the key arguments against a change is that 95% of audiovisual content is delivered over broadcast networks and Wi-Fi, rather than over mobile networks.
Fell urged fellow delegates to hold their nerve against what he described as a small minority looking to impose their views.
