Australia's mobile telecommunications industry has staked its claim to a large chunk of the spectrum between 520MHz and 820MHz that will be freed up when analogue TV broadcast services are closed down, saying that optimal economic benefit will be gained by allocating at least 120MHz of the available spectrum to mobile services and the rest to broadcasting, says IT Wire.

It says that, in this scenario, the economy would be boosted by up to $10billion over a ten year period. Its conclusion is based on the findings of a study commissioned by the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Assocation (AMTA) from Spectrum Value Partners and Venture Consulting. To arrive at its conclusion the consultants based their approach on similar work Value Partners performed for the Mobile Broadband Alliance in Europe, which published in the report ‘Getting the most out of the digital dividend’ in March 2008. The authors of the report stress that it has been compiled without any bias to the mobile industry. "A conscious effort has been made to ensure that the study does not favour the mobile industry. Therefore, when in doubt, the study deliberately favours broadcasters when defining assumptions and methodologies. As a result, we believe that the study results are conservative from the perspective of mobile operators."

For full report see www.itwire.com