Highlights of a meeting to gather EU Members' views on the Digital Dividend
Excerpts from Report for the European Commission: 'Exploiting the digital dividend': a European approach - Summary of the Member States' workshop, published by Analysys Mason Ltd. The workshop was held in Brussels on 15 April 2009:
"One Member State pointed out that the GE-06 agreement is based on DVB-T technology. DVB-T2 has significantly different propagation characteristics to DVB-T. Therefore, a widespread migration to this technology would require extensive re-planning of GE-06 assignments. It was highlighted that such re-planning is not possible for many Member States at present as they are currently preoccupied with bilateral negotiations relating to the forthcoming digital switchover (DSO)...
"Several Member States mentioned that they already use SFN [Single Frequency Network] topologies on a regional basis for some of their DTT multiplexes but only one Member State has deployed national SFNs, using a lower power, denser network.
"Regional SFNs can be deployed using existing high-power, high-tower transmission sites. However, using this approach, there is a limit to the size of each SFN transmission area. Member States said that 120-170km was the maximum transmission-area size. Larger areas are prone to destructive interference from distant [DTV] transmitters.
"National SFNs are possible, but lower-power, denser networks are required. Such networks are more costly than high-power networks because significantly more transmission sites are required... Most Member States appeared not to favour action to encourage the wider adoption of SFNs...
"Many Member States appeared to favour non-mandatory European action to create a sub-band for wireless broadband services... However, some Member States, mentioned that they face many unresolved challenges, which currently make the release of the [790-862MHz] sub-band extremely difficult.
"For several Member States, neighbouring non-EU countries use the sub-band for other services (e.g. military, aeronautical). This may prevent them using the sub-band for wireless broadband...
"Currently, only the UK has announced official plans to release digital dividend spectrum below 790MHz for uses other than broadcasting.
"Some Member States expressed concern regarding the creation of another sub-band below 790MHz...
"Member States noted that there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the development of cognitive technologies and the services they may enable. Therefore, they are uncertain regarding the necessity of European level action. However, they are keen to ensure that Europe can benefit from a common market for equipment. One Member State indicated that the Commission should promote a common European standard for cognitive technologies.
"On a related topic, one Member State highlighted that it was considering reserving digital dividend spectrum in order to support innovation... In its view, this should be considered as an additional potential use of the digital dividend...
"There was an open debate regarding the appropriateness of another major regional reorganisation of the band (not dissimilar to GE-06).
"One Member State suggested that the study should consider the possibility of such a major reorganisation in order to achieve significant efficiences through the wider adoption of SFNs, as well as new broadcasting technologies (e.g. DVB-T2).
"Another Member State emphasised that the life cycle of technical solutions for the 470-862MHz band is getting shorter: solutions quickly become obsolete (within a few years). Further, in the medium to long term, demand for certain services may change, for example demand for mobile services may grow. Therefore, the focus should be on ensuring that services can co-exist. This may mean that another replanning exercise needs to take place. This Member State suggested that an appropriate time for such an exercise might be between 2015 and 2018...
"One Member State suggested that it would be helpful for Member States to share the results of public consultations that they have conducted on the digital dividend. This would provide a better view of the European situation."
