A new report from the UK House of Lords has suggested that all TV shows should be broadcast via the Internet in order to free up wireless spectrum for mobile phones, and advises the government to start drawing up plans to make this happen.
“Eventually the case for transferring the carriage of broadcast content, including public service broadcasting, from spectrum to the Internet altogether will become overwhelming,” the Lords communications committee said in its report on internet infrastructure.
The report adds however that Britain will need a better broadband network to cope with the loads involved in such a move, and describes current government speed targets as “flawed”.
The UK government is aiming to ensure that all households can access 2 Mbps connections by 2015, with 90% getting 24 Mbps. Much progress has already been made thanks to the recent efforts of cableco Virgin Media and dominant telco BT in building out fibre-rich networks.
The UK recently completed its digital switchover after a four-year process that started in Cumbria and ended in London last April, with 26mn TV households now receiving DTT signals.
