How will today's decisions impact on the future of broadcasting? The EBU believes the terrestrial UHF broadcast bands below 790MHz must not be lost to the public. What is at stake? Radio spectrum is special. It belongs to each nation, not individual companies, and so it must be used in the public interest. There are operators who want ever larger slices of today’s UHF broadcast bands (below 790MHz) to be taken over in future for other services, and particularly for ‘wireless broadband’. When we decide this, we may want to remember recent national decisions on spectrum that were less than efficient. Costly mistakes must not be made for our European nations' broadcast bands below 790MHz – they are too important. Wrong decisions taken today about radio spectrum will hold us back for decades to come.
High quality broadband delivery must be the goal
What are the facts? The assumption that ‘wireless broadband’ will meet the public's need for broadband Internet in future is wrong. The public will demand high quality audio/visual services. The capacity available from wireless broadband, however much broadcast spectrum is taken over, will be orders of magnitude too small. The future of broadband must be fibre optic or HFC into the home. Telephone services or Internet text and long duration video services are very, very different in the capacity they need. The assumption that broadcasters are not objective in arguing against using the bands for wireless broadband is wrong too. They want and will need high quality broadband delivery as much as anyone else for their services. They don't want poor wireless broadband. Their 'stakeholders' are the public.
Broadcasters earnestly believe broadcast technology should not be artificially frozen in yesterday's technology, as it would be without sufficient spectrum. It should be allowed the room to grow. Broadcasting is, and will always be, more efficient than broadband Internet for providing services to the many, rather than the few, want. And broadcast technology evolves. Broadcasting technology evolution and competition for its services must not be held back because of mistakes in frequency management.
The public interest is the priority
What are our conclusions at the EBU? We must fight for the public interest - to preserve the current broadcast bands up to 790MHz for digital broadcasting and its evolution. Already spectrum above that (the 800 MHz band) is taken for wireless broadband or other services. A line must be drawn. What is more, Europe needs a plan for the universal provision of fibre optic broadband. Here, the cheap way with wireless broadband is the wrong way. Europe deserves better.
D.W.