Advanced Television

E95bn boost for EU if spectrum used for mobile broadband

May 7, 2008

The European economy would receive a financial boost of at least E95 billion over the next 20 years if one quarter of the UHF band were instead allocated for mobile broadband services, according to a study by Spectrum Value Partners.

The report – which was commissioned by Ericsson, Nokia, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone – has made an economic analysis of the costs and benefits of allocating different quantities of UHF spectrum for mobile broadband and broadcast use throughout Europe. Although the size of the benefits differ between individual Member States, the potential E95 billion windfall to the European economy represents additional value specifically associated with the use of the UHF spectrum. It is in addition to the E2.5 trillion generated by the European mobile industry using other spectrum in the same period between 2008 and 2027.

The study also shows that, with the remainder of the band, broadcasters are expected to generate more than E750 billion for the European economy during the same period, reflecting the large individual and social benefits from terrestrial broadcasting. It assumes that all existing free-to-air analogue broadcast TV channels will continue to be provided in either HD or standard definition formats and finds that the majority of the value which could be created by broadcasters is already provided by existing analogue channels rather than by the launch of new digital-only channels.

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