UK regulator Ofcom has set out proposals to ensure that LTE does not interfere with digital TV. Ofcom plans to auction 800 MHz spectrum for 4G mobile services next year and LTE is expected to be rolled out from 2013 in UK.

The 800 MHz spectrum is adjacent to the frequencies used for digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting. Due to its proximity, in a small number of cases this could cause the signals from mobile base stations to interfere with set top boxes and digital televisions in the future. This could potentially affect up to 3% of DTT viewers if no measures were put in place to solve the problem.

Ofcom has proposed a number of ways to mitigate interference. In some cases viewers will have to fit a filter to their TV aerial. These filters block the signals that interfere with TV reception and should solve most of the interference cases.

In a very small number of cases – less than 0.1% of DTT viewers – filters may not solve the problem. Ofcom is considering a number of options to address the problem which may require some viewers to change platforms.

Ofcom proposes that the majority of the costs should be borne by the future 800 MHz licensees.

The consultation, which closes on 11 August, can be found here: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/coexistence-with-dtt/