Europe's Conference of Post and Telecommunications Regulators (CEPT) has agreed a common position which opposes the allocation of the UHF band (470-694MHz) to mobile services.
The vote was held in preparation for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) WRC-15 Conference, where important decisions on the future assignment of spectrum will be made.
The European Common Position will now be forwarded to the European administrations for signatures. 30 countries present at the meeting in Porto, Portugal supported the European Common Position. Only Denmark opposed, with Bulgaria, Finland, Greece and Sweden abstaining.
EBU Director of Technology and Innovation Simon Fell said "Broadcasters around Europe welcome this decision from CEPT. It is the culmination of 3 years hard work bringing to the fore the importance of secured access to adequate spectrum for the broadcasting industry. With secured access to the band, European administrations will not only provide certainty to an important industry, but will help secure the investments required to liberate the 700 MHz band, and pave the way for advanced HDTV, UHDTV and hybrid television services for years to come."
Mr Fell went on to say that the EBU also welcomes the European Commission's recommendation to reject co-primary allocation of the 470-694 MHz band in Europe to the mobile service. This was recently publised in the Commission's proposal for a Council decision on the WRC-15.
The Porto meeting also approved a common position for allocating the L-band (1,452-1,492 MHz) (allocated currently to broadcasting services) to mobile services, as well as the lower C-band (3.4-3.8 GHz) (allocated to fixed satellite services, and used by broadcasters for contribution links).