A group of vendors and broadcasters believe 5G Broadcast will finally be ready for use across Europe by 2027.
The 5G Broadcast Strategic Task Force (5BSTF) is made up of Media Broadcast (Germany), TDF (France), Cordiant Capital (UK), Emitel (Poland), CRA (Czech Republic), BTCY (Belgium), and RAI (Italy), and supported by Rohde & Schwarz (Germany).
It is driving the development of a joint commercial roadmap across six European markets representing more than 270 million people.
The goal is to signal 5G Broadcast market readiness and pave the way towards the first commercial network.
The members of 5BSTF have been working together on reaching a population coverage of 125 million residents across Germany, France, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Belgium. 5BSTF members said this could be a completely new addressable market ready to emerge from Q2 2027.
This new market has prompted several mobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to assess the business opportunities presented by 5G Broadcast technology, said the 5BSTF. The OEMs are currently conducting extensive field trials utilising readily available commercial devices.
“We are glad to see private Broadcast Network Operators (BNOs) participating in the Task Force are ready to leverage the existing DTT infrastructure to enable the world’s first 5G Broadcast network connectivity, hence paving the way towards the broadcasting modernisation and transforming the broadcasting business landscape,” said the 5BSTF Team.
The task force added that the BNOs are “prepared to transform part of their existing infrastructure into 5G Broadcast network connectivity.”
