If you thought Ofcom already had a difficult job when it came to overseeing the launch of 4G here in the UK, then you’ll probably be less than pleased for them to hear that another party has got involved.
An organisation called The Voice of the Listener and Viewer (Or VLV for short) have claimed today that if the current plans for the 4G mobile signal rollout go ahead, then one in ten homes could lose the ability to watch television?
Why? Well it’s not because they’ll all be glued to their phones, I can tell you that: VLV actually think that allowing 4G to transmit at the frequencies currently planned would result in degraded freeview signals for a couple of million households – which accounts for around 10% of the population.
Of course, this problem can be fixed by installing a filter on your TV line, but this needs to be on the aerial side of any signal booster that may be installed – and due to the fact that many of these devices are fitted in lofts by aerial installers, builders and other tradesmen, Ofcom are concerned that many people aren’t even aware that they currently have a booster.
To tackle this, Ofcom have discussed creating a company that would send out boosters to affected homes, and have also ringfenced £20m to ensure the over-75s have TV.
This plan still has its doubters, however; it would seem that houses with multiple TVs would not necessarily find all their problems fixed by this solution – and Everything Everywhere apparently aren’t being exactly helpful, either.
EE have suggested that they could mitigate this problem at a network level – however, they have also said that would want the government to give up their cut of any money left over from the mitigation fund.
In case you can’t tell, it’s a big mess: As we’ve said before, we wouldn’t like to be Ofcom…
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