[Satellite Today 09-04-08] The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) said Sept 2., that reports of critical interference with TV broadcasts by broadband wireless systems in the satellite C-band frequency are on the rise.
    CASBAA cited a recent example in Bahrain where hundreds of consumers, largely expatriates watching Indian-originated satellite TV via large C-band receiver dishes, found their service cut off as wireless operators power up newly licensed WiMax systems.  Bahrain had ignored protests from broadcasters and satellite service suppliers at last year’s ITU World Radio Conference, which forecast that unrestricted WiMax systems operating in C-band would result in millions of disaffected consumers. 
    “Bahrain and other markets such as Pakistan, where broadcasts have been disrupted by unrestricted WiMax deployment, are the equivalent of the ‘canary down the mine shaft,’” Simon Twiston Davies, CEO of CASBAA, said in a statement. “ This is already a big problem and will grow much larger unless industry and consumers can make their voices heard.”