The EBU was encouraged to note “that the overwhelming majority of proposals at WRC-15 support a ‘No change’ position for the sub 700 UHF band, which would leave it exclusively allocated to DTT and radio.”

This came after each country had stated its position, with the consensus being that DTT will continue to be an important broadcast medium for the foreseeable future, according to Simon Fell, EBU Director of Technology and Innovation. “Contrary to what the mobile lobby would have us believe, terrestrial TV is the most popular TV platform in Europe and in many other regions of the world,” said Fell. “It also continues to deliver substantial social and economic value, in particular by providing free-to-air services and facilitating innovation.”

Fell added that most national administrations at WRC-15 seem to get this point. “We urge them to hold their ground against a small minority that is looking to impose its views on the rest of the world.”

This small minority includes a scattering of African and Arab states where DTT is non-existent with mobile networks and satellite often being the only two options for delivering TV services. But according to the EBU, all regions including most African and Arab states support retaining the status quo, perhaps because they are happy with the gains they made at the last WRC conference in 2012.

Indeed this is the latest chapter in a long running battle by broadcasters to defend as much spectrum for as long as possible against the advancing mobile services community. Spectrum for such services is allocated by the WRC at meetings held every few years, 2012 and 2007 being the last two.

Unlike the 2015 meeting so far, WRC-12 was acrimonious, at least as far as Europe was concerned. The world is split into three regions for spectrum allocation, with Region 1 spanning Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Region 2 the Americas and Region 3 Asia Pacific. Europe as part of Region 1 was ambushed at WRC 2012 when a group of Middle Eastern and African countries pushed through a commitment to make more spectrum available for mobile broadband in the higher 700 MHz (694 MHz to 790 MHz) band. This was in addition to the amount already granted via the first digital dividend after 2007. At that time there were variations between European Union (EU) member states, but generally 20% to 25% of the UHF spectrum liberated through analogue switch off was given over to mobile broadband, which was more than the whole original spectrum allocated for European GSM cellular services.

Many broadcasters had still assumed right up till 2012 that there would be no further spectrum reallocation. At WRC-12 many observers were surprised by the agreement to re-allocate the 700 MHz frequencies for mobile use in Region 1. The EBU argued at the time that this WRC-12 decision reneged on the earlier agreements around 2008 when the European Commission made it clear that enough spectrum should be reserved for broadcasters to develop advanced HD services. But since then the EBU has conceded the 700 MHz band and refocused efforts on defending the sub 700 MHz band, as it has been doing with apparent success at WRC-15.

A key part of the EBU’s argument has been economic, having published a report late in 2014 claiming that the cost of migrating the sub 700 MHz band from DTT to mobile services over the 2015 to 2030 period would be at least four times greater than the benefits accrued. The report estimated the costs of migration at €38.5 billion, including €19.7 billion for the consumer equipment required, €10.8 billion for setting up a new free-to-view platform and €14.2 billion arising as a result of reduced competition in TV platforms, but minus the €6.2 billion saved through no longer having to run DTT networks.

Against this the report estimated the benefits to mobile operators by starting off considering the difference between the network costs with and without the additional 224 MHz of spectrum gained from the sub 700 MHz band. It took account of the increasing competition among operators that the extra spectrum would trigger, with the effect of forcing MNOs (Mobile Network Operators) to lower their prices in order just to retain market share. Benefits to consumers were also taken into account in arriving at the final figure of €10.5 billion gain for mobile services. This was assuming traffic levels at the top end of the estimates – for less traffic the benefits were lower and so the net cost of migration would be even higher, according to the authors.

With this report the EBU could be accused of being as guilty as the mobile community by failing to take full account of the big picture in focusing on immediate economic arguments. As was pointed out at the time by Faulltline, a weekly online media analysis service published by Rethink Technology Research, the EBU had failed to consider the impact of LTE Broadcast on the mobile side. Faultline argued that since unicast one-to-one transmission would never be economic for popular linear broadcast services, the real battle was between mobile operators and broadcasters for control over spectrum used for some form of multicast video transmission. The EBU portrays it as a battle to defend free to air public service broadcasting, but given a likely erosion of the license payer model in those European countries that have it between 2015 and 2030 there is a likely trend towards TV coming universally via some form of broadband subscription.

The question according to Faultline is then really one of timing, with the focus on the coming 15 year period. In that case it looks like traditional broadcasting may just have won a stay of execution at WRC 15 with further battles to come.