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Countries gear up for transition to digital
broadcasting
17 June 2015 deadline signals new era for TV and mobile services
Geneva, 26 February 2015 – As the deadline for the
transition from analogue to digital broadcasting approaches on 17 June 2015 (for
UHF) and 17 June 2020 (for VHF in 33 countries) as set in provision 12.6 of the
GE06 Regional Agreement, ITU plans to mark this particular date by organizing s
symposium at its headquarters in Geneva to highlight the inherent advantages
offered by digital terrestrial broadcasting.
On 16 June 2006, at the conclusion of the Regional Radiocommunication
Conference (RRC-06) in Geneva, a Regional Agreement was signed by ITU Member
States of Region 1 and the Islamic Republic of Iran for planning of the digital
terrestrial broadcasting service, in the frequency bands 174-230 MHz and 470-862
MHz, heralding the development of ‘all-digital’ terrestrial broadcast services
for sound and television.
The Regional Agreement, Geneva 2006 (GE06) for digital broadcasting services
in the frequency bands 174 - 230 MHz and 470 - 862 MHz, marked the beginning of
the end of analogue broadcasting.
As part of the decisions taken by the ITU World Radiocommunication
Conferences in 2007 and 2012, the upper parts of the UHF band (800 MHz and 700
MHz) were allocated to the mobile service and identified for International
Mobile Telecommunications (IMT). These decisions prompted coordinated efforts in
Europe, Africa and the Middle East to harmonize the use of the 800 MHz and/or
700 MHz bands in their respective regions for IMT while consolidating the use of
the lower part of the UHF band by digital television broadcasting. These efforts
have resulted in modifications to the GE06 Plan agreed by the interested
countries in Europe and Africa and are still on-going between interested
countries in the Middle East.
Once the transition to digital broadcasting is completed, these countries
will be in a position to allocate the 700 MHz and/or 800 MHz bands as part of
the so-called ‘digital dividend’ – to the mobile service for broadband mobile
deployment.
“The switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting will create new
distribution networks and expand the potential for wireless innovation and
services,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “New efficiencies in spectrum
usage will allow more television channels to be carried across the airwaves and
lead to greater convergence of services.”
For more information, please contact:
Sanjay Acharya
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information, ITU
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Grace Petrin
Communication Officer, ITU Radiocommunication Bureau
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