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Televes Corporation’s UK subsidiary (Televes UK) today announced it is one of the companies who will supply high quality RF filters to at800 to help mitigate potential interference to terrestrial digital TV reception from 4G mobile phone services that will soon launch at 800 MHz.

at800 is the consumer brand of Digital Mobile Services Limited, the organisation responsible for ensuring UK viewers continue to receive free-to-air television when 4G mobile services at 800 MHz are launched later this year.

Ofcom –the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries– has estimated that up to 10% of UK households may require help to ensure their TV signal remains clear when 4G services launch in their area.  Viewers most at risk of seeing problems with their Freeview service will be sent an at800 filter, free of charge, to fit to their TV system before a problem occurs. 

Televes UK attributes the success of the award to the quality of its product, specifically designed for this purpose, and its manufacturing capacity, as a high demand must be met in a short period of time.

“For our subsidiary, the award of the DMSL contract represents a very important milestone, as it introduces and positions us in the business of fourth generation mobile telephone operators and it identifies us as relevant agents in the evolution of DTT as well as in the transition to 4G in the UK”, said Guillermo Fernández, Managing Director of Televes UK.

Fernández also highlighted that it is the result of work in which all the company’s departments were involved, which enhanced the great qualities of Televes: innovation, quality, proximity to the market and manufacturing capacity. “Being a company with a high level of integration has allowed us to provide a complete solution, from the design to the manufacture and the logistics”, he concluded. 

Similarly, the RF filters will represent the evolution of Televes UK in the retail market, with the incipient launch of the website www.lteready.co.uk, which offers information about this process to the end user, as well as the possibility of purchasing additional filters on-line. “We understand that part of our responsibility as players in this scenario involves providing information about the process to the end user. In addition, many of the homes in areas of possible interferences have more than one TV and, therefore, will need more than one filter to guarantee the correct reception of DTT”, explained Fernández. 

The experience in the supply of filters in the UK will place Televes in a privileged position with an eye to the processes for adapting frequencies in the spectrum for the coexistence between DTT and 4G which will be launched in other European markets. 

Coexistence between LTE and DTT

Long Term Evolution (LTE), or 4G, is the technology that allows us to extend the capacity of the current mobile networks to offer data connections with theoretical bandwidths of up to 326 Mbps for downloading and 86 Mbps for uploading. With these connection speeds, LTE will allow European consumers to make the most of their mobile devices, enjoying all kinds of connected services. 

For this purpose, the operators have deployed networks that will share the spectral space with the rest of the telecommunications services, including digital terrestrial television (DTT). 

Due to its power and proximity in the spectrum, in certain circumstances LTE emissions can cause interferences in the DTT signal. In this hypothetical situation, the television reception would not be provided in optimum conditions, and it could have a negative effect on the image and sound quality received on the televisions.

To prevent these interferences and guarantee perfect DTT reception, the domestic devices must be fitted with specific filters. Thus guaranteeing access in perfect conditions to all telecommunication services offered by current technologies.