Portugal DTT frequency migration in January
October 9, 2019
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Portugal’s National Communications Authority (Anacom) has approved the new frequency migration plan for DTT broadcasts to mainland Portugal and the islands of the Azores and Madeira.
Network operator Meo (Altice Portugal) will have to start the migration of frequencies used for Multiplex A between the third week of January and the first week of February 2020.
The process, which should free the 700 MHz band for the launch of 5G mobile telephony, will start at the beginning of 2020 in the Algarve and part of the Alentejo region, and end on June 30th 2020 in the Azores and Madeira.
The timetable for the remaining regions will be defined by Meo. By November 15th, Meo will have to send to Anacom a detailed plan of the changes of the 240 transmitters that make up the DTT network, which in the future will use frequencies in the 470-694 MHz band.
A test will be conducted on November 27th with the change of the transmitter of Odivelas Centro, which will move from channel 56 to channel 35.
The frequency migration and the 5G rollout timetable has generated controversy between Altice Portugal and Anacom in recent months, with accusations that Portugal is six months late in the deployment of 5G.