Baku, Azerbaijan, June 12
By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:
The 694-790 MHz frequency of radio broadcasting in Azerbaijan can be freed for mobile communication, a source in the country's telecommunications market told Trend.
The source said that the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC) Commission on regulation of the use of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits decided to propose to the Council of the Heads of RCC communications administrations to consider organization of work on search for additional channels to the digital terrestrial television broadcasting plan - 'Geneva-06' in the 470-694 MHz frequency range in order to compensate for the losses of the radio-frequency associated with the possible freeing of the 694-790 MHz frequency.
The issue was discussed within the framework of the 13th meeting of the Commission and its working groups held in Baku last week.
"Presently, in Azerbaijan the 470-694 MHz frequency is used for TV n broadcasting. If previously at the time of analog broadcasting, one transmitter could broadcast one TV program on one frequency channel, now up to 16 programs can be broadcasted through one digital channel. Given that there aren't many TV channels in the country, it's enough to use one frequency channel for their broadcasting," the source said.
Azerbaijan, according to the source, may free the 694-790 MHz frequency for mobile communications. However, it is necessary that neighboring countries also fully switch to digital TV. Azerbaijan completely switched to the digital broadcasting standard in December 2016.
At the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference, it was recommended to use the frequency spectrum of 694-790 MHz for mobile communications.
"This frequency spectrum can't be used simultaneously in TV broadcasting and mobile communication due to possible interference. That is why, the work is underway to ensure that these frequencies are fully freed, either for mobile communications or for broadcasting. The EU countries are preparing to completely free them for needs of mobile communication until 2023. But, it is not yet possible in our region, because neighboring countries - Russia, Turkey and Iran have not fully switched to digital TV, and there's no specific time when this happens. The reason is that a huge number of transmitters are used in these countries, the replacement of which requires funding," the source said.
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