During the Forum “New Technologies and Their Impact on the Information Society,” held in San José, Costa Rica, in December 2008, Mr. Apkar Ara Minassian, Superintendent at the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency and Vice Chair of the Working Group on Broadcasting of Permanent Consultative Committee II (PCC.II) of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) made a presentation on the evolution of digital terrestrial TV in the Americas Region.

Figure 1: Television in the Americas Region

First, he spoke about the model that served as the basis for telecommunications in the 1990s, when services had their own network, and about the corresponding terminal equipment. He concluded by commenting on what the future held in store.

He said that in recent years, considerable progress had been made in digital technologies. That had resulted in significant changes in existing paradigms, with new societal demands and higher quality levels. ICTs are at the root of a society’s development, and convergence is increasingly present in the day-to-day lives of the man on the street. Convergence has been observed in the field of services, networks, and multifunction terminal equipment, such as intelligent telephones, PDAs, and other devices. In short, society is moving toward the integration or convergence of services–voice, video, and data–and the spread of types of terminal equipment that are interchangeable among themselves or can be connected to global networks.

Figure 2: Models of digital television platforms

Given this situation, broadcasting–both radio and television–cannot remain on the sidelines of this evolution, or better yet, revolution. The first step was the introduction of digital television in the Americas Region. This digitalization will allow: improvements in technical quality; increases in the number of value-added services offered, with an emphasis on interactive services; social inclusion, especially in our region with its many needs; the provision of services to mobile devices and moving cars; efficiency in spectrum use; economic growth in the region; and the development of local and regional industry.

Mr. Minassian reported that CITEL, through PCC.II, had supported member countries in their efforts to establish policies for the implementation of digital terrestrial television (DTT) and in the development of their individual plans for implementation of DTT services.

To that end, a guide for implementation of DTT had been drawn up and kept up to date with inclusion of the experiences of 35 CITEL member states and associate members.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) had recognized three digital terrestrial television systems: ATSC (North American), DVB-T (European), and ISDB-T (Japanese).

The original intention was to adopt a common DTT standard for the Americas Region. In the meantime, as each country adopted its own DTT policy and established specific conditions for the development of competition, taking into account digital TV’s penetration, it was not possible to adopt a common standard.

Figure 3: The status of the digital television in the Americas region

The present situation in the region is as follows: The United States adopted the ATSC system, with the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting in its final phase and scheduled for completion during 2009. A second group of countries have started to introduce DTT, with Brazil using the ISDB-T system; Canada, Honduras, and Mexico, the ATSC system; and Colombia and Uruguay, the DVB-T system. A third group of 11 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, and Venezuela) are in the process of evaluating the systems. As regards video compression, MPEG-4 is the most advanced standard, which only Brazil is using at this time. The other countries operating are using MPEG-2.

Looking down the road 10 years, broadcasting service digitalization is likely to be quite advanced. This will make it possible to reposition the sector, by offering new applications that facilitate access to culture, news, and entertainment, and also to narrow the digital gap since it will facilitate access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) and allow the establishment of a distance-education network.

Mr. Apkar Ara Minassian
Vice Chair of the Working Group on Broadcasting
Permanent Consultative Committee II (PCC.II)