Saorview & 4G LTE Mobile Interference

Objective
A quick history of mobile phones
What are the advantages of 4G?
What bandwidth will 4G LTE use?
Will the 4G roll out affect TV reception?
When will 4G (and possible interference) happen?
What will 4G interference look like?
How many houses in Ireland will be affected?
Who will be most affected?
When can I take action?
Possible fixes to 4G interference?
How the UK is planning to deal with this problem?
- Proposed steps
How Ireland is planning to deal with this problem?

Objective

To give an overview of the impact of the launch of 4G broadband on Saorview reception and possible solutions to these problems

A quick history of mobile phones

First appeared back in the 1940s as car or jeep phones

1G phones which used analogue modulation, first appeared in the 1970s
2G phones using GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) appeared in the 1990s
3G phones allowed access to multi-media via your mobile device
4G which uses LTE standard (Long Term Evolution) is currently being rolled out to support fast broadband on your phone

What are the advantages of 4G?

It will be up to 50 times faster than 3G
Providers claim potentially to offer speeds up to 180Mbps
It can support interactive services, 3D technology, video on demand

What bandwidth will it use?

The auction results were revealed by Comreg on 15 November 2012
Total value of the auction was €854.6m with €450m being paid up front. The Licence agreement runs from 2013 until to 2030

In Ireland the following ranges are being used by the following companies
4G Frequencies

Will the new 4G rollout affect TV reception?

Wideband UHF Aerials which are used to pick up Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) i.e. Saorview cover the entire UHF spectrum from 470-854MHz (channel 21-68)
However Saorview transmissions only cover the range 470-778MHz (channel 21-59)
The 4G spectrum using the 800MHz band will cover the range 790-862MHz
The means there is only a 1MHz buffer between DTT and 4G

The 800MHz Band & Adjacent Spectrum

So from this we can see that only the 800MHz 4G broadcasts will pose a problem to TV reception

The 2 key issues are:

That current TV aerials cover this 4G spectrum
Also how close this bandwidth is to that used by Saorview TV

Current there are 2 transmitters in Ireland which broadcast on 770MHz - they are Ennistimon in Clare and Ballina in Tipperary

When will 4G (and the possible interference) happen?

The first tests of 4G are already being carried out (spring of 2013)
The service will not really be operational until Q3 of 2013 and will be rolled out over about a year period

What will 4G interference look like?

It will mean a distorted or pixelated picture and intermittent lines across the TV screen
In cases of severe interference, it will be almost impossible to watch Saorview TV

How many houses in Ireland will be affected?

Based on UK projections, it is estimated that about 200,000 Irish houses will be affected
This figure may actually prove to be even higher as the network is rolled out
Also the high numbers of rural dwellers - who are more likely to use amplified (interference prone) aerials than their urban counterparts

Who will be most affected?

The main factors in deciding who will be affected will be

How close you live to the nearest 4G transmitter
How far you are from the nearest Saorview transmitter
Viewers who heavily amplified their TV signal (whether due to being in a poor reception area or simply because they wanted to be certain of good reception)
- This is because these amplifiers will also amplify the 4G interference

When can I take action?

It is pointless acting now as your home may not be affected & even if your home will be affected you can not test the results of any filters etc until you have a 4G signal in your area
Wait until the 4G is operational in your area and then see if you need to take action or not (see below 'Possible fixes')

Possible fixes to 4G interference?

Use a filter to block out the 4G signal - in general this will be a low cost effective solution
Buy a banded group A aerial (but this will only work in some locations)
Realign or relocate the TV aerial to focus directly at the Saorview transmitter but away from / blocked from the 4G transmitter
Remove amplifier from the TV aerial setup - you may not need it and it may be the cause of your 4G interference

How the UK is planning to deal with this problem?

The UK have also auctioned off their 4G licences and have been very proactive in trying to address the potential impact of the launch of 4G on TV reception. A company called Digital Mobile Spectrum (DMS) Ltd. have firstly tried to get a handle on how many customers will be affected.

They believe that customers within 1.2km of a 4G mast will need to filter out their interference. This will equate to about 2.4 million houses, but this number is expected to increase if the number of masts being used is greatly increased (which most likely will happen) over time.

DMS has a total budget of £180 million which has been provided by the mobile phone companies and government to assist home owners who are being affected by this.

Proposed steps to deal with 4g interference in the UK

Giving a free 4G filter to houses which fall within the 1.2km radius rule
To this end, they recently ordered over 2 million filters
The filters will be issued either on a proactive (send 1 out to everybody who lives in this area) or a reactive (give a filter to anyone who asks for it) basis
They are limiting the offer to 1 filter per house
Customers who have Sky TV or cable TV on their main TV will not be issued with a filter even if other TVs in the house are affected. Only issued for a main TV receiving Freeview or Freeview HD
Issuing a £50 voucher to any customer who needs to install the filter on their roof
- It is expected that about 10% of those affected i.e. 240,000 houses will need to do this
- This course of action will only be necessary if the customer is using an amplifier next to their TV aerial
Running an information campaign to make customers aware of the 4G launch, it's possible implications and how the issues can be addressed
Providing a certification process for filters that come onto the market, the so called "at 800 approved" standard
Funding to customers who due to their location, find it impossible to receive DTT and must use satellite TV as an alternative
This can be as high as an incredible £10,000