HONG KONG - Tom Phillips, Chief Government and Regulatory Affairs Officer, GSMA, offered the following statement regarding the joint announcement by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore to align with the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) band plan for the future allocation of the 700MHz (Digital Dividend) spectrum band to mobile:
“The GSMA congratulates Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore on their joint decision to commit to aligning with the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) band plan for the allocation of the 700MHz band to mobile broadband services.
“This week’s decision is an important step forward in meeting the fast-growing demand for mobile data and a positive signal to the wider mobile ecosystem in the Asia Pacific region. Alignment with the harmonised APT band plan will create important economies of scale, enabling citizens in these countries to enjoy affordable handsets and equipment and will also provide seamless cross-border and international roaming. Further, the 700MHz band is ideally suited to provide extended mobile broadband coverage to rural and remote areas where fixed infrastructure is often unavailable and also has ideal characteristics to improve indoor coverage in saturated urban areas.
“The GSMA now calls on these four national administrations to start planning and implementing the switch-off from analogue to digital television without delay, to ensure countries can reap the full social and economic benefits associated with the release of the Digital Dividend to mobile.”
