Internet New Zealand has concluded that digitilised television signals will free up spectrum that could be used for cheaper mobile phone calls and other purposes.
Analogue broadcasting ends in 2013, by which time all TV signals in the country will be digital.
Internet New Zealand thinks that will free up a lot of radio spectrum, mainly at the low-frequency end.
Chief executive Vikram Kumar says it has commissioned a report that indicates the best way for the Government to use the spectrum is to allocate it to new mobile broadband technologies.
Mr Kumar says that what Internet New Zealand calls the "digital dividend" could be very valuable for such services, because fewer cellphone towers would be needed than with higher-frequency spectrum.
With the rising number of smart phones and tablets the move could cut costs and give users mobile internet speeds as good as you would get at home at the moment, he says.
