Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards has raised the prospect of a single European frequency for digital TV.

Richards said the shift to more efficient compression and broadcast technologies have made it feasible to look to at re-planning Digital Terrestrial Television across Europe.

He said there are “major potential benefits” that could result from international harmonisation and that Ofcom would look at potential future harmonisation of the 700MHz band for mobile use in Europe.

“As we begin to contemplate the possible co-existence of Digital Terrestrial Television and mobile services in the 600-700MHz bands, we need to think about the changes that lie not very far beyond this,” Richards told delegates at the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) Regulatory Conference yesterday.

He said that Ofcom is considering when any possible future rebalancing of the use of UHF spectrum bands IV and V could be implemented.

“Bound up in such an assessment will be the question of the 600MHz band now being cleared in the UK as part of the transition from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television,” he said.

“If the 700MHz band is harmonised throughout Europe for mobile use in the next decade, the opportunity may exist to replan Digital Terrestrial Television so that we are able to maximise the overall value of sub 1GHz spectrum to society.

“The European dimension is therefore of great importance as we attempt to move towards a more efficient allocation of spectrum, determined largely by market mechanisms but supported by a long term strategic coordination plan and delivered often by pragmatic intervention.”

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