During the last meeting of the RAN4 (Radio Access Network – Radio Performance and Protocol Aspects) Working Group of the 3GPP which took place in Athens in the week 26/02-1/3/2024, the Rai Centre for Research, Technological Innovation and Experimentation (CRITS), represented by Assunta De Vita (as EBU delegate), participated in the work that led to the conclusion of the standardization activity of the 5G Broadcast technology.

The role played by CRITS was crucial in creating networking with the main players within the 3GPP, thus allowing an agreement to be reached for the use of 5G Broadcast technology in the so-called sub-700 MHz band, specifically the 600 MHz band (107 ) and the UHF spectrum dedicated to broadcast services (108).

This work represents the last step of a long journey that began in 2015 with the Work Item: “Enhancements for TV services” to create a profile of the 3GPP standard for 5G suitable for the transmission of television content, to which CRITS actively contributed during the various phases of standardization (starting from Rel.14 up to Release 16-18) and experimentation. Now all the essential elements of 5G Broadcast are part of the 3GPP standards: further features and improvements are still being studied and will be proposed for the introduction of future releases of the standard, but with this Release 18 the standard is ready for the broadcasting of TV services towards mobile phones.