EBU welcomes ITU anti-jamming initiative

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has welcomed steps taken by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) at its recent Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan to stop satellite interference.

Member states agreed in Korea to support ITU efforts to track reported cases of interference with satellite broadcasts.

The new action to address the problem was approved on November 7.

The resolution invites the ITU to enter into agreements with satellite monitoring facilities in order to detect the sources of interference, a process known as geo-location, and it calls upon the ITU to create a database on interference.

The successful effort to obtain ITU action on the proposal was a multi-national effort, introduced by a representative of France’s Agence Nationale des Frequences (ANFR) and steered through debate by an official of the UK’s Ofcom.

“The ITU ‎resolution marks an important step towards access to free and independent media information for all people around the globe. It helps to fight censorship and to ensure respect for pluralism and democratic values,“ said Ingrid Deltenre, Director General of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).