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EUROPE
While 2008 was the year that Northern Europe began to come to an accord regarding the Digital Dividend band agreed at WRC-07 (790-862MHz), their counterparts in Southern Europe have been making progress in the New Year. In Croatia, plans to allow a Digital Dividend were boosted late last year by new legislation allowing spectrum release in the UHF band, on top of a Digital Dividend strategy recommending an allocation at 790-862MHz. These plans should come to fruition in 2009 as the country finalises its plans for DVB-T with a public tender expected earlier in the year. Following on from analogue switch-off, which is planned by end-2010, the Digital Dividend will become a reality in the country. However, interference issues with Italian broadcasters remain a source of concern in the region.
Neighbouring Slovenia, meanwhile, has grown increasingly supportive of a Digital Dividend at 790-862MHz. Slovenia has long-held plans to finish analogue switch-off by 1 December 2010 and believes this date will be achieved. While no Dividend will be available before this point, the country has now stated that it will support a Digital Dividend after this point.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with Macedonia, has also moved ahead with legislation to support a Digital Dividend along the WRC-07 lines, and more movement in the region is expected in the coming months. The GSMA supports these decisions and hopes it will encourage other countries in the region to follow suit.
Comreg, the Irish regulator, plans to launch its consultation on Digital Dividend spectrum in the first quarter of 2009. We also expect the Romanian regulator to launch a consultation in the same timeframe.
In Germany, operator E-Plus and vendor Ericsson announced a partnership with the government to launch an HSDPA pilot. The pilot will see the use of the Digital Dividend frequencies (790-862 MHz) to bring mobile broadband to communities that otherwise wouldn’t have access to broadband. The agreement was reached at the end of last year with the aim of running the pilot throughout 2009. The service will be available to a select number of homes and businesses. The pilot will deliver mobile broadband speeds of up to 7.2mbps and the results will be used to inform further government decisions on the Digital Dividend.
These developments are positive moves forward for the mobile industry as it paves the way for the delivery of new services such as mobile broadband. It is also hoped that other European countries will take the lead from those that have already made decisions in favour of mobile (Finland, Sweden, France and Switzerland).
REST OF WORLD
The switch off of analogue TV in the United States, scheduled for 17th February 2009, is likely to be delayed for at least three months. On 8 January, John Podesta, co-chairman of President-elect Barrack Obama’s transition team, sent a letter to the U.S. Congress requesting a delay. On the same day, former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairmen William Kennard (Democrat) and Michael Powell (Republican) published an op-ed article in The New York Times , “Don’t Touch that Dial,” also supporting a delay. Lame-duck FCC chairman Kevin Martin, speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas two days later, defended the 17 th February deadline arguing that changing it would create confusion among consumers. The bottom line is that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the U.S. agency that is distributing coupons to consumers to subsidise the acquisition of converters from analogue to digital TV, has run out of money. The U.S. Congress will need to appropriate additional resources for the coupon program. Meanwhile, investors who paid $19.6 billion in the 700MHz auctions last year will have to wait a little longer to use their new frequencies.
The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority ECTEL has launched a consultative document for a policy on the allocation and assignment of frequencies in the 700 MHz band in the Caribbean region. For more information contact consultation@ectel.int. The deadline for submissions is 20th January 2009.
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