Telecommunications operator Neotel is worried about radio frequency spectrum interference from television broadcasters during the switchover period from analogue to digital terrestrial television.

Neotel is the only telecommunications provider with access to the 800MHz band, where broadcasters are providing analogue UHF television services.

However, during “dual illumination”, when both analogue and digital broadcasts will be carried, that band will become more congested, leaving Neotel in a difficult position.

The operator’s chief technology officer, Angus Hay, says that the band plan published by the Independent Communications Authority of SA in 2010 could results in interference in certain parts of the country.

Hay says Neotel has spent hundreds of millions of rand on its code division multiple access network in the 800MHz band. The company uses a technology called “geographic interleaving” to coexist with broadcasters.

He says Neotel may be able to work around the problem, but he says it will come at a cost. — Candice Jones, TechCentral