Uruguay adopts DVB-T and DVB-H

31 August 2007

The DVB Project today commended the decision of Uruguay to adopt the DVB-T and DVB-H standards for its fixed and mobile Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) broadcasting. The decision was announced on the 27th August in a Presidential Decree signed by President Tabaré Vázquez and the Minister of Industry, Jorge Lepra.

Undersecretary Martín Ponce de León stated that the adoption of the DVB standards will allow Uruguay to “actively participate in the process of technological development through investments and through development of software and content.”

Peter MacAvock, Executive Director of the DVB Project, said: “We welcome this significant decision by the government of Uruguay. By opting for DVB-T and DVB-H, Uruguay becomes part of DVB’s global market and can take advantage of the wide variety of professional and consumer offerings at the lowest possible prices for making its transition from analogue to digital television services. The people of Uruguay will soon be able to join the growing numbers on six continents that are enjoying TV with the highest quality of sound and vision.” 

The decision to adopt the standards was arrived at after a year long evaluation of DVB and the US and Japanese alternatives by The National Commission of Free-to-Air Digital Terrestrial Television (Comisión Nacional de Televisión Digital Terrestre Abierta).  Criteria under consideration that formed the basis for the decision included:

–    the provision for both fixed and mobile TV and HDTV services
–    interactivity
–    the diversity, availability and cost of equipment
–    technical quality of service
–    spectrum efficiency
–    strategies for digital inclusion
–    development of national technologies
–    development of the audio-visual industry.

The decision comes at a time when other Latin American countries are evaluating DTT systems and sets an example by opting for the world’s most successful family of open digital broadcasting standards.  DVB standards (DVB-T, DVB-C, DVB-S, DVB-S2 and DVB-H) form the basis of digital TV services throughout the world. DVB-T is already deployed in more than 30 countries and adopted in more than 100 countries. More than 170 million devices around the world are receiving services that use DVB standards.

Mr. Leon Lev, President of URSEC (Unidad Reguladora de Servicios de Comunicaciones) said: “the timely adoption of the technical standard is an initial step to facilitate the development of digital terrestrial television by allowing all involved players to understand the regulatory framework which will be the basis for the transition to digital television in Uruguay.”

Uruguay becomes a pioneer in Latin America by combining the selection of fixed and mobile digital terrestrial television (DVB-T and DVB-H), thus ensuring the efficient use of technology and convergence of services. Furthermore, the decision to adopt DVB standards in Uruguay is strongly supported by the European Commission and European industry in general.

Download the full DVB press release.