Hohe Investitionen durch Versteigerung der Funkfrequenzen
Obwohl die Vergabe der ersten Digitalen Dividende im Bereich 790 bis 862 MHz in Europa noch nicht abgeschlossen ist, wird seit der Weltfunkkonferenz 2012 auch auf EU-Ebene bereits über eine zweite Digitale Dividende verhandelt. Dies kritisieren Anwender und Hersteller drahtloser Übertragungstechnik vehement. Besonders betroffen ist die Kultur- und Veranstaltungsbranche, die in Deutschland als Folge der ersten Frequenzversteigerung bereits einige hundert Millionen Euro in die Umrüstung ihrer drahtlosen Funkstrecken investieren musste.

The political debate about the allocation and use of the radio frequencies so far focused on supplying the general population with digital television and mobile broadband services. A first informative meeting now pointed out the urgent need of wireless frequency resources (wireless microphones and related equip-ment) to members of the EU Parliament. These are vital to the cultural and events industry as well as to public life and journalism. The current internationally proposed auctioning of further radio frequencies to mobile phone providers, the so-called digital dividend II for the range of 700 MHz, would immensely threaten these activities. The main objective of the event was to make these essential facts and their technical principles public to the EU politicians and to bring them into the further decision-making process.

The EVVC calls for the event industry including all its houses to be reimbursed for a total of 2-3 billion Euros due to the expenses incurred in connection with the Reallocation of radio frequencies (digital dividend). “Our houses, that are for the most part communally sustained and thus dependent on tax payments, are faced with huge subsequent costs,” predicts EVVC President Joachim König. To be able to continue offering the technology of wireless microphones after the reallocation of radio frequencies in convention centers, multipurpose halls, arenas and theaters and many other events facilities from the Adult Education Center to the Staff College it will become necessary to purchase entirely new equipment almost everywhere. The wireless microphones that are being used so far do not work on other frequencies.

The radio frequencies will be reassigned for different users as part of the so-called digital dividend, allegedly to be able to close “white spots” in broadband internet supply. This means that the telecommunications companies, as users and financially strong partners, will be the likely winners of this reallocation. The frequencies from 790 to 862 MHz that were available for television broadcasts and wireless microphone systems in the past, will therefore in future be available to the mobile industry, who as of yet have not developed market-ready technologies to actually use those frequencies.

For the modern industrial organization however, giving up the possibilities of wireless microphone systems is unthinkable. “It is hard to imagine that we will, in terms of sound equipment, fall back into the times of Vico Torriani or Peter Frankenfeld, where the use of the cable-based microphones was almost part of the stage choreography. The modern dramaturgy of political party conventions, with all its modern technological linkages of audio, video and lighting technology, will be thrown back into the fifties,” said EVVC President Joachim König.

To this day, it is completely unclear which alternative, interference-free frequencies for wireless microphone systems will in future be available. It is however certain that the currently used wireless technology in the event houses will be worthless because it is focused on the frequency band from 790 to 862 MHz. Since the reallocation, according to the Federal Network Agency, will take place from mid-2010, the chaos is inevitable due to the short time frame. At the moment no one can assess whether the newly-allocated frequencies for the event industry will mean a new development of equipment.

The EVVC therefore calls for a clear and unequivocal implementation of the Federal Council dated 12 June 2009 over a reasonable reimbursement thof the parties involved. This also means that all facilities, also after reaching the amortization period, are fully reimbursed, since these systems would have remained in use for several more years, knowing the financial situation of the municipalities. “If these costs are not fully reimbursed, it will once again be the taxpayer who will suffer,” said König. “No event house that wants to be competitive can afford go without wireless sound systems nowadays. Thus, these investments will inevitably burden municipal coffers. Once again a naive miscal-culation has been made, because, of course all proceeds of the reallocation have to held against he costs”, continued the König.

The EVVC therefore calls for the immediate notification of prospective radio frequencies available to the event industry. Only then can the sound and recording industry take action to develop new devices and calculate the costs. These in turn are the basis for the designation of capital investments and thus a reliable and reputable basis for the claims against the federal government. Only in this way - combined with an optimized time frame - can significant failures in the event business and cost transfers to the municipalities be avoided”.

Der APWPT hat zur leichteren Identifizierung von Störungen bei dem beginnenden LTE-Betrieb einen Handzettel Störungen erstellt. Dieser erlaubt es allen Technikern vor Ort, wichtige Informationen aufzuzeichnen. Sie können diesen im PDF siehe rechts herunterladen. Bitte teilen Sie auftretende Störungen an den APWPT mit. Weitere Infos erhalten sie unter www.apwpt.org  

With the expansion of the LTE mobile phone network stages and event venues are already recording the first radio interferences, thousands of cases in Germany may yet follow. Changing the malfunctioning systems to other frequencies is always virtually impossible. Consequently, they are inoperable and worthless. The bitter consequence for theatres and the event industry: new and expensive systems need to be purchased which for some houses can mean financial ruin. The federal government gained 3.6 billion Euros due to the frequency auction. But there is still no serious effort to adequately compensate the affected parties that have trouble with radio interference. A substitute spectrum that will ensure the high standard in the long-term does not exist. The aggrieved parties are not at fault, but have to bear the entire financial burden and pay with their existence and significantly worse production conditions. To rectify this situation, the APWPT calls for a petition, and asks you for your support! The petition will be published in early July. Then it is important that you sign it within three weeks at https://epetitionen.bundestag.de! The petition wants to once again draw the attention of political leaders to the precarious situation of users of wireless technology and production technology and urge them to act. According to the association’s calculations the federal budget put aside for compensation can not nearly compensate for the economic damage done to those affected. According to estimations of the APWPT, the incurred costs for the 700,000 wireless systems in Germany are well over 1 billion Euros. Currently, the approved compensation amount is approximately 124 million Euros. Simultaneously to the increase in the amount of compensation, the APWPT demands permanent alternative frequencies in the range of 470 - 790 MHz for wireless production, since they are already at risk due to international “conversion concepts”. This must be reflected in appropriate legal action in Germany and a strong involvement of Germany in international bodies – according to the petition content the Federal Republic should campaign for the preservation of the UHF spectrum for event productions as part of European and international agreements.