EU to deliver switchover roadmap

The European Commission intends to develop a roadmap for the digital switchover (DSO) process after declaring that adequate coordination could raise the economic impact by €20bn to €50bn by 2015.

The Commission has launched a consultation that will run until September 4, with the aim of determining how best to coordinate DSO at an EU level. The roadmap will set out common measures to steer the switchover process in a coordinated manner. It will highlight the benefits of spectrum coordination and give member states flexibility to address local and national issues.

“The digital dividend comes at a critical moment when we want to connect all parts of Europe to high-speed broadband, ensure high quality broadcasting, and expand consumer choice in future wireless services,” said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. “Europe will only achieve all of this if it adopts a coordinated approach using radio spectrum in the most efficient way. Depending on the choices we make, the potential impact of the digital dividend can be increased by billions of euros. We want to better understand what the public, broadcasters, mobile operators and other market players think of these choices before we finalise our proposals.”