BMCO: ‘white space’ spectrum use could interfere with mobile TV

Mobile TV industry body the BMCO Forum has called for national administrations to be wary of allowing the use of so-called interleaved or ‘white space’ UHF spectrum for licence-exempt wireless services, as it could pose a risk to interference of mobile TV signals.

UK communications regulator Ofcom recently published a discussion paper on the use of ‘white space’ spectrum (the unoccupied radio waves between TV channels) to deliver wireless broadband in rural areas and other services.

The BMCO Forum has also amended its stance on the use of L-band and S-band frequencies to deliver hybrid satellite-terrestrial mobile broadcast signals. The European Commission has chosen two operators to use S-band spectrum and has called for national authorities to clarify local conditions regarding complementary ground components. Another proposal has made the case for complementing the satellite service in the L-band with terrestrial networks operating in the 1467-1492MHz band. The BMCO Forum says that this could be further investigated provided that it is not binding for all countries and does not prevent the deployment of terrestrial-only mobile TV in the 1452-1479.5MHz band.