The GSMA has released findings of a new study from ATDI, which examines ways to mitigate interference between new LTE mobile signals and existing and planned television services. The study focused on the cities of Brasilia, Campinas and São Paulo as these are likely to be some of the areas where potential interference with television and mobile reception could present the greatest issues. Potential interference problems should be less acute in other areas and therefore easier to mitigate.

According to report , the population affected is generally small, and can be reduced by applying suitable mitigation techniques for potential interference areas. For example, in Brasilia and Campinas, the population that could be affected is generally fewer than 10,000 people and through mitigation, the issue could be virtually eliminated.

In addition, applying filters to both ISDB-T television transmitters and to LTE mobile base stations can help to significantly lower the probability of out-of-band and blocking interference. The probability of interference of LTE consumer devices, such as smartphones and tablets, with the ISDB-T television system from blocking and out-of-band emissions is low.

Adopting plans that avoid high power emissions in the upper television channels (especially channels 48-51) will support coexistence as the potential interference problem is more acute where frequency separation from the lowest LTE band is small.

In October, Brazilian regulator ANATEL made the decision to allocate the Digital Dividend to mobile and adopt the Asia Pacific (APT) 700MHz band plan, which would free up the spectrum band for new LTE mobile services. Forecasts show that using the 700MHz band for mobile broadband will create substantial socio-economic benefits for Brazil, contributing an additional US $1.4 billion to GDP, providing over 4,300 job opportunities and generating additional tax revenue of US $1.3 billion by 20202.