Mobile operators to cover costs of 4G TV interference

Nearly a million homes may need to be installed with filters to prevent interference on their television pictures following the launch of 4G mobile signals, with the mobile firms due to cover the costs.

Media regulator Ofcom warned last year that around 3% of households receiving digital terrestrial television, or Freeview, will experience interference when 4G services are introduced from next year.

The government has now confirmed that a £180 million scheme will be created to fund solutions to potential TV signal interferences. Most homes will just need to fit a filter that will be supplied via a dedicated help scheme, including extra support for over-75s and people who are registered disabled.

But around 10,000 UK homes on Freeview will need to switch to cable or satellite services to avoid a major degradation in their picture.

Any households that are unable to receive an alternative service to DTT will be offered up to £10,000 each to "find a solution", although that is expected to affect only around 500 homes.

The £180m scheme will be funded and run by the main winners of the 4G auction later this year, in which Ofcom will sell off the biggest quantity of mobile spectrum in UK history to the mobile phone firms, including Vodafone, O2 and Everything Everywhere.

Discussing the plans, communications minister Ed Vaizey said: "Next generation mobile services are essential for economic growth. They will bring an estimated benefit of £2-3 billion to the UK economy.

"There will be some interference when 4G services are rolled-out but we will have the solutions in place to eliminate the disruption to television viewers."

The launch of 4G services is viewed as vital to cope with the increasing use of bandwidth-hungry mobile services on connected devices, including tablets and smartphones.

Ofcom says that the spectrum being auctioned is essential to meet the massive increase in mobile traffic expected over the coming years.

It is hoped that the first 4G services will reach rollout phase by 2013, including superfast mobile broadband supporting download speeds of up to 100Mbps.

The regulator said in its consultation last year that around 760,000 digital terrestrial television homes could be affected by the new 4G signals, but the Department of Culture, Media and Sport has now told the BBC that the number could be as much as 900,0000.

Any homes within a set range of a transmitter tower will be automatically offered a filter, while a helpline will be established for people to flag up interference cases outside of the protected areas. The filters will be fitted to the digital television box and block out the unwanted 'noise' of the 4G signal.