Digital migration will increase broadband spectrum for mobile phones – ITU Chief Bureau Officer

A Chief Bureau Officer at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), believes that when the world finally migrates to the digital switch, more broadband spectrum will be created.

Already, the ITU has warned that if action is not taken to fast-track the growth of mobile broadband, mobile phone users would face worsening network congestion, which“will continue and eventually get worse.”

According to the Union, smartphones such as Iphone, Android, Galaxy Tab among others, which are set to rise from the current global estimate of 500 million handsets in use, to almost two billion by 2015, are consuming an average of five times data capacity more than users of ordinary mobile phones and hence the need for governments to show enough commitment to the growth of mobile broadband.

Mr Malcolm Johnson, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau, in an exclusive interview with ghanabusinessenws.com in Accra, said increases in broadband spectrum can be created if the digital migration comes in full flight.

Mr Johnson tells ghanabusinessnews.com that the “Switching over to digital is five times more and efficient in terms of spectrum terms than the analogue.”

“It releases a lot of spectrum for mobile phones and for broadcasting…This is what will be happening,” he said.

He urged all countries to meet the deadline for the switchover.

The increase of broadband spectrum has become an essential part of national economies, according to the ITU’s latest report titled “Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2010-11”, even though the contribution of broadband, which is described as the technology that enables high speed transfer of data, to economic growth varies, it plays a positive role in a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

The report said, broadband has been found to have a positive impact on productivity, and evidence generated both at the micro-economic and macro-economic level appears to confirm this effect.

In an effort to avert a logjam in wireless communications, President Barack Obama, at one time directed the Federal Government to double the United State’s broadband spectrum capacity over the next decade.

By Ekow Quandzie