On the Coverage and Cost of HPHT Versus LPLT Networks for Rooftop, Portable, and Mobile Broadcast Services Delivery

The discussion around different network architectures, namely high power/high tower (HPHT) versus low power/low tower (LTLP) is currently a hot topic in different international fora. This paper presents the results of a study to compare coverage, number of sites, and network deployment/maintenance costs associated to three different network configurations (HPHT only, LTLP only, and mixed HPHT + LTLP) for rooftop, mobile, and portable indoor/outdoor digital terrestrial television service delivery. The analysis has been based on a practical network planning scenario. The results have been obtained with coverage simulations in the Basque Country, a region in northern Spain currently served with 64 transmitters of a traditional broadcast network. The results conclude that a LPLT network would require 3.3 more centers for providing the same coverage as the current HPHT network at a cost three times higher. Also, it has been observed that the current HPHT network fails to give portable and mobile coverage numbers close to real-service targets in urban areas. In those cases, the approach with lower number of sites and cost is a mixed HPHT + LTLP network, where a set of LPLT transmitters complement the coverage provided by the HPHT network.