"State of the Telecom Union"

Thomas Husson | March 21, 2008, 11:47 AM

2 days ago, the EU commission published its 13th report on the state of the European Electronic Communications market. Definitely worth a read if you want to know the state of the Union and better understand the telecom competitive landscape in Europe.

On a different topic and as expected, The European Union chose last Monday the mobile TV standard DVB-H over other versions of the technology, saying governments are now required to promote it.

In the same time, Ofcom (the UK regulatory body) confirmed it is planning to auction radio spectrum in the 1452-1492 MHz band (the so-called “L Band") suitable for services including mobile TV, among others.

It is more costly to develop DVB-H in the L-band than in the UHF band, which is not available in the UK, hence the international harmonisation approach from Ofcom. The contradiction is quite obvious here (see below Ofcom's presentation from July 07).

Also, worth to be noted that many operators are still testing other technologies and that the decision was critized by the GSMA. Anyway, the L-band can also be used for other purposes such as satellite digital radio or broadband wireless access.