The Dutch government is planning to introduce DVB-T2 when the current licences run out at the end of January, 2017.
The 700 MHz frequency spectrum will become available for mobile use from 2020. The government will auction both the 694-790 MHz spectrum as well as the DVB-T2 licence. There will be a period of simulcasting in order to facilitate the switch from DVB-T to DVB-T2.
During the past few months, the Ministry of Economic Affairs held a number of consultations with interested parties. Henk Kamp, the responsible minister, has now send a letter to Parliament outlining the intentions of the government.
Given the fact that still between 300 and 400,000 homes are still dependent on terrestrial reception, DTT will continue to be available in the country.
The Dutch public broadcaster NPO has said that it intend to broadcast its channels in HD over DTT as well as use HbbTV for catch-up and other on-demand programming.
KPN has also said it intends to continue to offer its DTT platform Digitenne.
At the moment, all digital terrestrial broadcasters in the country are using DVB-T. The Dutch public broadcaster transmits its main national channels NPO1, NPO2 and NPO3 free-to-air, as well as the regional public channels.
KPN owns and operates the Digitenne platform as pay-TV service, offering most Dutch private channels as well as a number of international channels including Belgian public broadcaster VRT.
