46 Executive Summary Taking the pulse


Karl-Heinz Laudan Vice President, Spectrum Policy,


Deutsche Telekom Region: Germany


Interviewed by: George Jarrett


Karl-Heinz Laudan brought a chilling logic to the great spectrum debate at IBC2014. Answering the point that free to air TV is sacrosanct to recipient consumers, and the notion that losing 700 MHz is as far as broadcasters can afford to go, he said: “Giving up the 700 MHz band does not mean that channels have to be shut down. “By switching to DVB-T2 with


an HEVC coding scheme there will be a dividend that enables broadcasters to transmit more channels in less spectrum. But the channels have to be moved to lower parts of the UHF-band,” he added. Laudan is the VP for Spectrum


Policy with Deutsche Telekom, which he first joined in 1987. Subsequently he joined the Federal Ministry for Post and Telecommunications. He then


The broadcaster community


makes the point that mobile lobbyists never mention the consumer use of Wi-Fi. Is this a big deal? “Wi-Fi is not a mobile


technology: it is only portable. You must distinguish between the use cases. At home, where the consumer already has a broadband connection, Wi-Fi is the first choice for mobile devices, but could also substitute terrestrial TV,” said Laudan. “But for mobile reception only the mobile network is viable. My question is whether there is a mobile use case for DTT distribution. If not, there is no substitution between mobile and terrestrial TV.” Research done for the EU


suggests that consumers will not use mobile services for the reception of linear broadcast, and that there is little evident


“If countries have targets for


broadband, and if they earn money from spectrum allocation


procedures, the usage of that money has to be decided at a political level”


joined T-Mobile International to handle spectrum policy. With the expiry of that company his responsibilities were transferred to Deutsche Telekom. Does mobile broadband


deserve a bad press for what it has achieved with 800 MHz thus far? “Look at Germany: It took one


year to fulfill the coverage obligations and to build up a countrywide network with LTE800,” said Laudan. “Only with mobile technology can you have such a quick rollout. People have mobile broadband connectivity, but only with the bandwidth and speed that 10 MHz channels (per operator) can provide,” he added. “With the 700 MHz band, the


performance of the 800 MHz network can be doubled, so fulfilling the demand for more speed and bandwidth. The problem is that a lot of countries have not yet allocated the 800 MHz band of spectrum to the market. A harmonised approach in Europe would have been much more efficient.”


convergence. “If that is the case, then there is


no need to discuss if mobile networks can substitute terrestrial TV distribution. There are different use cases. Linear signals for stationary reception will be transmitted terrestrially by broadcasters, even though that could be done much more cost- efficiently via satellite or IP. Nonlinear content will be distributed via IP networks, including mobile networks,” he declared. Was the IBC spectrum debate


just another chapter of a political game that cannot fully resolve for two decades as broadcasters fight to keep 500 and 600 MHz, and take time to vacate 700 MHZ? “Due to global harmonisation


arguments, the 700 MHz band will be used for mobile broadband. Terrestrial TV will not disappear in a foreseeable timeframe, but the future of DTT will be decided by the consumer and possibly the broadcast operators, if they have to cover the distribution costs.”


Judicious approach reaps dividends


theibcdaily


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