From Arqiva’s written evidence to UK Parliament, 2022:
There has been no evidence of demand or requests from stakeholders for access to Band II or MW spectrum for non-broadcasting use.
Ofcom’s studies did not conclude a clear or emerging picture of how AM and FM spectrum could be used if vacated by broadcasting. Although several different technologies and applications were reviewed, there was no evidence of development, demand or compatible equipment that could be used if these frequency bands were vacated.
The total bandwidth that would be available if the whole of Band II were to be made available is just over 20MHz. The amount of bandwidth available to any individual device using that band would most likely be significantly less, or be time-shared in some way, to manage interference between users.
In the absence of any international moves to standardise alternative technologies in Band II, potential candidates for alternative technologies that could be considered to use a modest bandwidth either planned or on an opportunistic basis include the Internet of Things Devices, White Space Devices and remote telemetry, for example by utility companies.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the interconnection via the internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data. The popularity of IoT, and the various solutions this technology provides has resulted in increased development and a rise of use in business applications. As a result, there may be demand for Band II spectrum for IoT applications if that capacity ever becomes available. As the spectrum remains in use for broadcasting in most countries in the world, the market for such devices is small and there is no known demand at present.
Potential use for White Space Devices includes infrastructure monitoring and commercial wireless broadband applications but the concept of these devices and the demand for these applications is currently low within the marketplace which would suggest little or no demand at present for use of Band II or MW spectrum.
The use of this spectrum for remote telemetry by utility companies is a possibility. Development within the utilities sector of smart meters and infrastructure sensors continues, but with no current demand for access to additional spectrum. If monitoring or the transfer data requirements grow a demand for spectrum could develop.
From the broadcasters’ perspective, FM represents significant additional cost in addition to DAB. There will come a tipping point where they no longer need to continue with this.