Introduction

About This Toolkit

The GSMA’s Digital Dividend Toolkit offers one-stop access to the latest policies, perspectives and best practices in managing the crucial issue of the Digital Dividend — a unique opportunity to develop mobile broadband services presented by the switchover from analogue to digital television broadcasting. The toolkit was first produced in 2011 and is regularly updated with new, country-specific case studies.

Here you will find impact assessments, technical studies and practical guidance highlighting the approaches of many countries that have allocated Digital Dividend spectrum to mobile broadband. By centralising this information for policymakers, regulators and others concerned with the future of mobile, we hope this toolkit will smooth progress towards mobile broadband for everyone.

Giving people access to broadband and the internet is a high priority for governments, particularly at times when the global economy is underperforming. The economic benefits of broadband combined with a range of opportunities to enhance social well-being in healthcare, education and the environment mean that affordable, equitable access to broadband is a political imperative. Achieving this goal breaks down the ‘digital divide’ that has long been associated with the distribution of information and communication technology (ICT) and the necessary skills to use it.

The Digital Dividend is the spectrum that is freed up after analogue television broadcasting switches to a digital transmission. Digital television uses spectrum far more efficiently than analogue television and allows excess spectrum to be released for other services. Governments around the world have benefitted from releasing part of this spectrum to mobile broadband.

The Digital Dividend spectrum is ideal for mobile broadband because it is at a lower frequency than the current mobile broadband spectrum and requires fewer base stations to cover the same geographic area. This lowers deployment costs and allows operators to provide broader, more affordable rural coverage.