EBU slams mobile industry claims amidst criticism of ITU report

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has published a factsheet to counter claims made by the mobile industry that linear broadcast TV viewing is declining and that mobile operators will require access to UHF band spectrum to meet anticipated demand for services. 

The EBU cited studies that predict that live TV viewing will still account for 82% of all TV consumption by 2020 and claimed that current estimates for future mobile internet use are greatly overestimated because they do not take into account users’ preferences for accessing services over WiFi. The EBU also argues that mobile operators could use higher frequency ranges of spectrum more efficiently.

The EBU’S latest intervention on spectrum follows the failure of the ITU working party on mobile services to agree on future mobile spectrum requirements at a meeting in Halifax, Canada this week.

The ITU-R Working Party 5D (WP5D) adopted a controversial report in January, which proposes that spectrum should be reallocated for mobile use at the World Radiocommunication Conference next year. The EBU has criticised this report for its methodology and far failure to take into account numerous factors when predicting mobile spectrum requirements.

The ITU-R Joint Task Group (JTG4-5-6-7), responsible for the preparation of the relevant WRC-15 agenda items, has asked WP5D to address the various critiques of its report and update the estimated mobile spectrum requirements, if necessary. The working party has yet to respond.