Spain spends €300,000 promoting second DTT migration
February 8, 2017
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The Spanish government is to spend €300,000 on a media campaign to raise public awareness of the need to migrate to a new frequency band for DTT – a process to be completed by 2020 or 2022 at the latest.
Currently, the 700 MHz band (between 694 and 790 MHz) is being used for DTT, but it is being moved to a lower band, affecting some 15 million homes. Spaniards have already had to face a DTT retune in the last quarter of 2014 (completed in March 2015) to leave the 800 MHz band for the use of mobile companies for 4G services, with a cost of €286 million. The analogue switch-off took place with the first DTT migration in 2005.
The Spanish Government is seeking an agreement with all players involved in the second DTT migration scheduled for 2020 or 2022. The Government plans that in 2020, 98 per cent of the population has a coverage of at least 30 Mbps, while the other 2 per cent would be connected through satellite or wireless connections.
Currently networks at 100 Mbps are now reaching 70 per cent of the country’s population, out of which 63 per cent are through fibre optic and 7 per cent via coaxial cable., with 4G reaching 94 per cent of the country.