Up to 350 TV and radio stations in Germany will move to a new frequency on the Vodafone cable TV network.
The operator is converting several frequencies to improve the performance and reliability of the fibre-optic network.
The first cities, municipalities, and districts to be upgraded in this, the second stage, are Leer, Oldenburg, Lingen, Celle and Goslar in Lower Saxony. Customers are required to conduct a frequency scan, though in many cases, this is carried out automatically by the TV receiver. Last year, Vodafone switched around seven of the 13 million households nationwide that watch TV via the Vodafone cable network. Initially, there will only be isolated changes in the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg.
Once the changeover has been completed, Vodafone will concentrate on the distribution area of the former Liberty Media.
The move will harmonise the frequency spectrum into a single nationwide layout.
“The conversion of the TV frequencies is an important step so that we can further develop our network in a future-oriented manner. As a result of the conversions to date, we have been able to determine a significant reduction in capacity of up to 20 to 30% in downstream data traffic in many network areas – for the customers that means more stability in the fixed network,” says Tanja Richter, head of technology at Vodafone.
In two regions where the conversion has already taken place and the radio signal in the cable is only transmitted digitally, Vodafone is already piloting a new technical process called ‘HighSplit’. The frequency range in the cable reserved for data traffic can then be used much more dynamically than before. “This new technology gives us more scope for the further development of our network, so that we can make the cable network even more robust, especially for Internet use,” explains Richter. In addition, the switch will help Vodafone to maintain the TV offering and further develop the TV platform GigaTV.
