The Croatian regulator HAKOM has begun to monitor interference to TV and radio signals in the country by transmitters in neighbouring Italy.
In a statement, it says that from this month to September it will undertake extensive measurement of disturbances coming from Italy in VHF and UHF frequency ranges, intended for analogue FM and T-DAB radio, as well as DVB-T. It will cover areas of Croatia than form part of the Adriatic coast and islands.
HAKOM says that it has undertaken such measurements in the summer months, when interference is at its worst, for some time as part of a general campaign seeking to resolve the problem through bilateral negotiations and international institutions such as the ITU and EC.
These resulted in last year’s closure of most transmitters in Italy causing TV signal interference, thereby significantly improving reception in the digital regions 5, 7, 8 and 9 in Croatia.
However, the transmitters have not been entirely removed and their closure is important for the future redesign of the DTT network in Croatia in order to allow the introduction of new mobile service in the 700MHz band.
HAKOM also notes that Italy has yet to make any improvements to radio signal interference, which has significantly impacted on the reception of Croatian FM stations for several decades.
