The rollout of 4G across the UK could result in access to Freeview TV services being lost in 1.9 million homes, the media secretary has warned.
Ed Vaizey, responding to questions from MPs John Mann and Anna Soubry about the rollout of 4G rollout, said: "Ofcom estimated that the number of households using signal amplifiers was nine million of which up to 945,000 could be affected.
Ofcom estimates that the numbers affected could fall to 5,100 and 3,400 households.
"The number of households using a communal aerial system was 5.6 million of which up to 953,000 households could be affected," he added.
This means that 1,898,000 homes in the UK could find blank screens when they switch on their televisions. Homes that could lose out are in areas where the current Freeview signal is low or marginal or where aerials are shared in communal flats and apartments.
The government is paving the way for the rollout of 4G in the UK, which will bring ultra fast mobile broadband to smartphone and tablet users.
However, the part of the spectrum to be used by the new technology is very similar to Freeview's. This means that for some homes Freeview will be inaccessible, forcing them to use either satellite or cable services.
To tackle this, an independent body, MitCo, has been created who will be responsible for providing affected households with filters to mitigate the risk of interference.
MitCo will be funded to the tune of 180 million by the major mobile operators. Around 20 million of this money will be used to fix the signal interference 4G will bring to Freeview services.
Ofcom admitted that even after this money has been spent, up to 5,000 homes may still not have access to Freeview.
"Ofcom estimates that the numbers of affected households could fall to 5,100 and 3,400 households respectively once a mixture of consumer-based and selective mobile network based mitigation methods are applied," said Vaizey.
