EU countries to use TV spectrum plan for mobile broadband

The European Commission (EC) has urged its member countries to switch from analogue TV broadcasts to digital by early 2012 as the internet service providers can use the freed up spectrum to provide high-speed wireless and mobile broadband services to more people.

According to the EC, four-fifths of airwaves which are currently being used by the analogue TV broadcasts to homes in Europe, can be freed up by moving to digital TV.

The move will help the EU countries to provide high-speed broadband access to all the citizens by 2013. The EU has also drawn up plans to see that competitive ISPs get their share of spectrum as the commission predicts that new services can boost the European economy with revenues of up to £45bn.

Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for information society and media said:
“The EC co-operated closely with EU countries, the European Parliament, industry and consumers’ representatives to prepare such a plan,”

According to the EC, freeing of more 790MHz – 862MHz spectrum is crucial as this sub-band is important for the fast growing 3G and 4G mobile phone services to extend their coverage to more areas.