Countries using DAB/DMB

Countries with DAB, DAB+ or DMB broadcasts. (Source:WorldDMBForum country profile)

The radio technology known as Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) is being operated in several regions worldwide, either in the form of full commercial services, or as feasibility studies. Along with the UK, we also find a growing user base in countries as Denmark, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and South-Korea.

This article provides details on most of the regions using DAB.

Andorra

In its moment the two public radio stations (Ràdio Nacional d'Andorra and Andorra Música) were broadcast by this system.

Their coverage was practically of 100% of the population of the principality, only using two repeaters: Pic de Maià and Pic de Carroi.

The broadcast was carried out on the block 12D (229.072 MHz).

In 2005 the repeaters were deactivated and in 2006 definitely turned off up to the present. That was made without giving explanations.

Australia

Main article: Digital radio in Australia

The major cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide all launched digital radio broadcasts in May 2009, and the digital radio services include stations by public broadcasters ABC and SBS, as well as a number of local commercial stations. All of these broadcasts are in DAB+. Digital radio in rural areas is currently unavailable and there are currently no plans to introduce a digital radio service in these areas.

Austria

In Austria so far there is just a test operation of DAB. The national broadcasting company Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) tests Digital Audio Broadcasting in the capital Vienna and in the province Tyrol.

Belgium

DAB was launched in Belgium in 1997. The transmitter network is rather dense, resulting in an excellent mobile coverage providing 10 public national radio stations.

The ensembles include audio services (four new "DAB only" programmes and simulcasts from FM), programme related data (program type, announcements and dynamic label) and data services. The receiver situation is improving. Tuners, kitchen radios and handheld devices are on the market and sales are growing fast as a result of a marketing campaign. Investments in new DAB services and more networks are expected, especially for the commercial and regional networks. An upgrade of the transmitter network for excellent indoor coverage is planned.

As with most things in Belgium, Broadcasting is divided to serve the two communities and DAB is catered for by the two Public broadcasters VRT and RTBF, - the later having recently upgraded their multiplex (with a system from the English DAB systems service provider) to enable it to (amongst other things) deliver the range of Advanced / enhanced digital services that the Eureka 147 protocol encompases.

Canada

L Band DAB was launched in Canada in November 1999. Promotion of digital radio is mostly taking place by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, which represents private broadcasters in Canada, though an organization called Digital Radio Rollout, Inc. [1] Currently, CBC operates DAB stations in Toronto (VX9CUZ, Channel 6/LF), Montreal (VX9CPC, Channel 4/LD), and Vancouver (VX9IXS Mount Seymour & VX9IXT Burnaby, Channel 3/LC). The licences for these transmitters are classified as "developmental". CBC DAB stations in Ottawa, Windsor, Ontario, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, as well as commercial DAB stations in these markets that were once operating are now off the air.

On 16 June 2005 the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved two subscription satellite digital services, which are partnerred with the Sirius (Sirius Canada Inc.) and XM services (Canadian Satellite Radio Inc.) in the United States, and a third subscription service to be provided by the CHUM radio group using terrestrial transmitters that will only cover mainly urban areas in the south. This system intends to use a derivative of the DAB system for transmission. Among the services planned to be offered on the channels includes urban music, rock, oldies, dance, Motown, Francophone, classical, opera, Christian, Aboriginal, and radio theatre. With CTVglobemedia's purchase of CHUM, however, there is currently no indication regarding how this will affect the service.

Initially, the plan in Canada was to eventually replace all AM and FM transmitters by Eureka 147 transmitters in the L Band.

On 15 December 2006, the CRTC, on reviewing the status of DAB in Canada and finding that it was not progressing well, changed its previous policies and will now allow testing of digital systems being tried in the United States, including in-band and out-of-band FM systems. The Eureka 147 system will still be used, but transitional licences will become permanent licences at renewal. Eureka 147 will now be viewed as complementary, and broadcasters will be able to add one Eureka 147 station for each AM or FM station that they now operate.

China

In 2006 China decided to use DAB and T-DMB has an industrial standard for broadcasting digital radio and mobile television. China placed early in 2006 an order of 500 000 receivers. They already broadcast some programs at Beijing and Guangdong.

Czech Republic

In April 2006 the Czech parliament adopted a version of the media law focused on digital broadcasting. The public Czech radio (Český rozhlas) has applied for permission to broadcast DAB. The new digital radio stations ČRo 4 - Radio WAVE, Rádio Česko, Leonardo and D-dur are provided by Czech radio. These programs are currently transmitting via DVB-T and the Internet. TELEKO company, in cooperation with the public broadcaster Czech radio, started one-month DAB trial on channel 5A in Příbram region on 16 May 2007. The trial in L-band will follow. The goal of these non-commercial trials is promotion of digital radio to the Czech public and administrators. [2]

Denmark

In Denmark an extensive rollout of DAB has been made by Danmarks Radio. The goal is that the entire country should be covered in 2007. More info can be obtained from http://www.dabradio.dk/ including a current coverage map. About 18 channels are available, which includes 15 DR channels, two channels from 100 FM and one channel from TV2/SBS. Denmark, along with UK are the most successful countries when it comes to DAB adoption. In 2008, 37% of the Danes has access to a DAB radio which makes Denmark the country with the most DAB users in the world per capita.

DAB coverage is about 90%. In the coming years, more channels are going to be available, just as the analog tv turns off 31 October 2009.

Finland

The Finnish broadcasting corporation YLE started DAB transmissions in 1997, which covered approximately 2 million listeners. However, not many compliant devices were sold and hence the DAB transmitters were switched off in 2005, although transmissions of the digital radio channels continue in the digital television network. Finland is currently investigating providing digital radio via other digital broadcasting systems, such as DVB-H.

France

In a public consultation on digital radio, the four largest French radio broadcasters objected to using the current DAB system; new stakeholders were in favour of keeping compatibility with the UK version. The French communications regulator Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) decided to launch a technical forum about the right choice for digital radio. Some broadcasters asked the regulator to strictly adopt the digital radio system in order to preserve transborder roaming (car radio) and some suggested to design technical variants of the European standard. Implementation of Band III has been strongly suggested by most contributors. The five largest French radio broadcasters are currently participating in a trial of the DVB-H and T-DMB digital broadcasting system in Paris.

Only one VHF T-DAB assignment is implemented. In France T-DAB is implemented in L-band. The percentage of households that can already, or are expected in the near future to receive the quoted number of VHF multiplexes is not significant. However, for the future digital Plan, France has decided to implement T-DAB in Band III. For the time being, CSA has authorised for 6 months an experiment over Paris for T-DMB on channel 11B. The experiment is established by TF1, Europe 1, Europe 2 and VDL, and for duration of six months, beginning on 15 October 2005. It is authorised to broadcast a set of programmes of radio or television having been already the object of agreements with the Council.

Germany

After some years of test operation, regular T-DAB service was launched in April 1999. Licences have been granted to 8 different network operators. They use the T-DAB frequency blocks of the WI95 Plan. The cumulative area of all allotment areas corresponds to seamless coverage of Germany. All network operators are obliged to implement the networks within a time frame of 5 to 8 years in order to provide coverage of more than 80% of the total population.

At present about 85% of the German households are located within the service area of T-DAB transmitter networks. However, the market penetration of receiver equipment is still low. In order to improve the situation, several activities are underway. The platform of the "Initiative for Digital Broadcasting" chaired by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour investigates T-DAB issues and aspects of improving the market development.

An "Initiative for Marketing Digital Radio" has been founded by the German network operators and is an open forum for equipment manufacturers, program providers, network operators and marketing experts. An associated "Initiative for Marketing Digital Radio" plays its role as marketing enterprise and is equipped with a budget which is adequate to organize and perform PR- and marketing activities on a larger scale.

On 28 January 2008 Germany decided to stop governmental funding of DAB. Poor sales and newer technology has apparently overtaken DAB and German regulators says it is no longer cost effective to continue funding the technology. It seems that commercial radio are taking over the frequencies as Germany also starts broadcasts with HE-AAC+ technology, also allowing commercial stations access to broadcast with DAB.

Hong Kong

DAB trials have been conducted on the L Band (1998) and on Band III (2004). The trials involved all three radio broadcasters: RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong), HKCB (Commercial Radio Hong Kong), and MB (Metro Radio Hong Kong).

Indonesia

Indonesia began DAB trial transmissions on August 2006. There are four DAB radio stations: Prambors, Ramako, Sonora and I-Radio. On the trial period, DAB radios use 10 D FHV frequency.

Ireland

Main article: DAB in Ireland

Ireland's public service broadcaster and owner of the sole national transmission network, RTÉ, launched its DAB service to the East and North-East on 30 November 2006, using Channel 12C. It initially began with six stations (four live), consisting initially of the RTÉ radio stations. Currently, it carries the four RTÉ stations, an occasional simulcast of the Mediumwave version of RTÉ Radio 1, and four new RTÉ digital-only services, as well as some trial services.

Nearly a year previously, on 20 December 2005, RTÉ announced that DAB trials would begin along the east coast on 1 January 2006. This date was 80 years after Radio Éireann (RTÉ's predecessor) began. By 5 January, two transmitters, Clermont Carn and Three Rock Mountain, were transmitting a single multiplex on channel 12C, carrying 6 channels - RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ lyric fm, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Today FM and the World Radio Network, all at 192 kbit/s. In May, this was reduced to just RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ 2FM at 160 kbit/s. These test DAB transmissions ceased on 13 July and DAB remained off-air until the public commencement that November.

A second multiplex appeared in Dublin (Three Rock Mountain transmitter) on block 12A in March 2007 carrying Today FM, Q102, Phantom 105.2, FM104 and 98FM. Today FM was removed from the RTÉ mux on 12C at this time.

DAB development was limited by the lack of Band III frequencies until the GE06 Conference earlier this year. Prior to GE06 (formerly known as RRC-06), the Republic of Ireland had only two channels allocated to DAB: 12C to RTÉ for the entire country and 12A allocated to commercial broadcasting. However, roll-out using the lower channels made available after the conference will most likely be limited until the RTÉ television broadcasts in Band III are moved to UHF.

Local radio franchise areas have been allocated an L band DAB channel, as well as any counties which do not match radio franchises. L band capable receivers are relatively rare in Europe, although are the standard in Canada and other countries.

Italy

In band III VHF (174-220 MHz) in some areas it's possible to hear 3 groups of radio stations:

• Radio Rai (Rai Radio 1, Rai Radio 2, Rai Radio 3, Rai Isoradio, Rai FD4 Leggera)

• Club Dab Italia (Radio Capital, Radio DeeJay, Radio Radicale, Radio 24, Radio Italia Solo Musica Italiana, Radio Maria, m2o, Virgin Radio Italia, R101, Radio Dimensione Suono)

• Euro Dab (Radio Padania Libera, Radio 24, RTL 102.5, RTLWorld, RTLClassic, Radio Radio, Radio Vaticana)

Others radio stations are also available in certain areas (like RAS and SSR radio stations are available, respectively, in South Tyrol and in Lombardy).

On 1 February 2007 public radio broadcaster RAI started experimentation of broadcasting in T-DMB in some areas of the country.

On 25 July 2007 Club Dab Italia started experimentation of broadcasting in DAB+. On the 4th of December, the Italian regulator formally approved DAB+ digital radio to launch in Italy.

Malta

T-DAB spectrum licenses have been awarded in March 2006. In August 2005, the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) together with the Ministry for Competitiveness and Communications published Malta's policy and implementation strategy on T-DAB. Digi B Network Ltd. was the highest bidder for all the 4 frequency blocks available, and was granted a license in March 2006, although the frequency blocks still needed to be coordinated between neighbouring countries. Digi B started commercial rollout in 2008, using the new DAB+ system.

Malaysia

The TV3/MPB trial signal contains a DAB audio stream of a MPB owned English language radio station called Fly FM.

The Netherlands

In March 2005, following criticism from politicians from all parties, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Laurens Jan Brinkhorst announced that The Netherlands has postponed plans to continue rolling out DAB, and will instead evaluate newer technologies. The new technologies which will be assessed include the new version of DAB DRM+ and DVB-H, and are more efficient than the current version of DAB, so it is likely that The Netherlands will end up using an upgraded version of DAB based on the AAC+ codec.

Netherlands Public Broadcasting has been transmitting in block 12C since 2004. Nine radio channels are available, including a non-stop Top 2000 channel and a continuous repetition of the last news bulletin. Territorial coverage of the Netherlands is currently limited, but 70% of the population is covered.

New Zealand

New Zealand has been trialling DAB since November 2006 in Wellington and west Auckland but wants to use the new DAB+ standard once testing is finished.

Norway

Around 20 stations are available on DAB, including all of NRKs broadcast channels and commercial P4 as well as their DAB-only transmission P4 Bandit, and private broadcaster Moox Radio with an experimental music channel. An audio book channel, Bokradioen, was taken off air because of royalty issues. NRK has several DAB channels, some which are exclusive to DAB and some which are available via the FM net in larger cities. During 2007 NRK plans to launch several DAB-only stations. As the DAB network is expanded, some local radio stations are licenced to broadcast via DAB.

The first test transmissions were started in the middle of the 1990s. NRK Alltid klassisk started broadcasting in June 1995 and was the world's first all-digital around-the-clock radio, with non-stop classical music. NRK Alltid nyheter (news radio) started broadcasting in 1997, at a time when there were only about 25 DAB receivers in Norway.

DAB radio in Norway is divided into a national multiplex on channel 12D, and several regional multiplexes. The regional multiplexes broadcast versions of NRK P1 with regional programming and several other NRK channels which do not fit on the national band.

As of December 2006 about 70% of the population is potentially covered by DAB, but FM is by far the most common method of radio distribution. In Norway the DAB market was very small until the close of 2004, with few available receivers and little demand. Since Christmas 2004, the market has been growing; more than 100,000 units were sold through 2005 and 2006. As of November 2007, DAB is experiencing a steady increase in popularity, and approximately 12% of the population can receive DAB .

On the 26th of November 2006, the Norwegian government decided to let DAB coverage expand to 80% of the population, with two multiplexes available in all areas in May 2007. Norway aims at reaching full national DAB coverage before 2014. The Norwegian Minister of Culture stated that FM-band broadcasting are planned to be switched off when DAB reaches 50% penetration of the market, and will during 2010 publish a road map for digital radio.

Poland

Polskie Radio, the Polish public sound broadcaster, had to stop broadcasting its 4 audio services in Band II DAB Block (105,008 MHz), which covered 8% of the Polish population, due to the lack of electromagnetic compatibility with the existing VHF FM services. In October 2001 the test transmission was resumed in Warsaw on the DAB Block 10B. It is foreseen that this transmission will form the first part of the SFN covering Central Poland.

In January 2004 Poland's Office of Telecommunications and Post Regulation (URTiP) presented a new concept of a frequency planning in Band III. This idea is based on full exploitation of the spectrum by digital sound and television broadcasting after analogue switch off and changing channel spacing from 8 to 7 MHz. This accommodates three national T-DAB layers and one national DVB-T multiplex at the same time.

Radio Wroclaw, a public broadcaster, and TP Emitel, a national infrastructure operator, launched the country’s first DAB+ trial in May 2009 in the city of Wroclaw. Another trial has started in Polish capital city, Warsaw, in November 2009. It is expected that following the tests stakeholders will look towards launching commercial services.

Portugal

Only the public radio stations from Radiodifusão Portuguesa are broadcast in DAB. The service started in August 1998 on tests within the Expo 98 public. RDP Antena 1, RDP Antena 2, RDP Antena 3, RDP Internacional, RDP África and the RDP regional stations are all broadcast on the single 12B channel on the majority of the country, especially on the district capitals and the main routes. In 2004 Rádio Renascença and RFM joined the 12B channel, overloading the system and having no better quality than FM. The Portuguese government is constantly delaying this matter and now better options are at stake, like the DAB+ and DMB, with better performance and they can use the existing transmitters instead of replacing them for DAB's.

Romania

As of summer 2005, in Bucharest there is a single emitter that broadcasts five radio stations multiplexed on channel 12A (223,936 MHz - Band III). The five digital radio stations (three public service and two commercial) are: Radio România Actualităţi, Radio România Muzical, Antena Bucurestilor, Radio Romantic and ProFM.

Russian Federation

There are no T-DAB transmitters working at present time, but two licences for commercial T-DAB broadcasting services supposed to be granted now, because of existing interest and demands.

Singapore

In Singapore, MediaCorp's DigitalRadio was launched on 19 November 1999. Using the Eureka 147 DAB system, DigitalRadio provides six digital-only stations and eight simulcast FM services, along with images and text to supplement the audio. Singapore was the first country to reach full DAB coverage.

Spain

Spain has a DAB population coverage of 60%. There are three national multiplexes: public (192 kbit/s each, but the public classical music radio station has 224 kbit/s stereo, REE has 160 kbit/s mono), and commercial (160 kbit/s stereo) radio stations, with 6 services each. Two radio stations are DAB exclusive but have poor programming (music jukebox).

Catalonia

Catalunya Ràdio the Catalan public broadcasting station broadcasts four simulcast radio stations in DAB with a bitrate of 192 kbit/s. It broadcasts two exclusive radio stations in DAB: Catalunya Digital 1 and 2 with 192 kbit/s each. Catalunya Digital 1 offers music in Catalan and Catalunya Digital 2 offers varied music with the inclusion of the name of the artist and the title of the song that is being listened to. The public Catalan broadcaster has 85% of population coverage but it has three broken DAB transmitters (Rocacorba, Alpicat and la Mussara) that reduce the coverage.

Slovakia

In Slovakia there is no T-DAB service in air at present time, even though all major TV transmitters which have been in collision with VHF T-DAB frequencies moved to UHF band.

Sweden

Swedish radio is currently offering 7 channels DAB-transmissions and cover 35-40% of the population, mainly in the larger cities.

DAB transmissions in Sweden began with tests as early as 1995, and were later expanded to cover larger parts of the Swedish population.

On 14 December 2005 the Swedish Culture minister, Leif Pagrotsky, announced that the Swedish government was freezing investment in DAB, citing that DAB was very expensive to transmit and that cheaper digital radio systems should be investigated, and digital radio should also be transmitted via the Internet and via the digital terrestrial TV system. The government decision were quickly criticised by Swedish broadcasters.

On the 21 December 2006, the Swedish Government renewed Swedish Radio's license to transmit DAB broadcasts in Sweden. The license also allows Swedish Radio to test technologies as DAB version 2 and DMB. DAB transmissions continue with coverage of Stockholm and other cities.

During june 2008 the swedish workgroups within Radio- och TV-verket published their report "Framtidens Radio", recommending DAB+ as the best platform for digital radio. The report where endorsed by both corporate and governmental broadcasters.

Switzerland

The coverage map is now nationwide (2009 = over 92% of the population). All the regions are covered by the DAB/DAB+ network. The tunnels along the main traffic arteries are mostly not covered at the end of 2009.

World Radio Switzerland (WRS - national media broadcast in English) can be received in all the country (DAB in French and Italian speaking areas, DAB+ in other regions). WRS is part of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, Switzerland’s national public broadcaster.

United Kingdom

See also: Digital radio in the United Kingdom

Experimental transmissions by the BBC started in 1990 with permanent transmissions covering London in September 1995. In September 1997 the BBC announced its national DAB rollout plans and soon reached 65% coverage. In 2006 the majority of national broadcasters all broadcast on DAB (as well as traditional AM/FM).

The public service broadcaster, the BBC, has been promoting its DAB Digital Radio stations since September 1995 and at present (2006) covers about 88% of the population, including the major motorway network. Progress beyond this figure seems to be slow, leaving some several million of the UK population who still do not know when they will be able to receive DAB. The switch from analogue TV to digital TV (DSO) is imminent, possibly relegating DAB to a lower order of priority. FM will not be switched off when analogue TV is switched off, however, which is a growing misconception.

Due to poor take up and the existing marketplace of installed FM receivers in homes and in particular cars, some broadcasters have recently closed their DAB stations. "We do not believe that - with its current cost structure and infrastructure - [DAB] is an economically viable platform," the commercial broadcaster GCap Media said.

As of August 2005, the BBC national DAB multiplex contains a number of different services, including Radios 1-5, and digital-only services such as Radio Five Live Sports Extra, 6 Music, 1Xtra and BBC7, as well as an EPG.

The Digital One national commercial multiplex began broadcasts on 15 November 1999 with 69% coverage and since then its DAB network has always been more extensive than the BBC's. It contains eight audio stations, an EPG and an experimental video service for mobile phones which was launched in October 2006. Digital One also developed along with Frontier Silicon a low cost silicon chip used in the majority of receivers and is directly responsible for DAB receiver prices falling below £100 in 2002, and as little as £30 in 2006. As a result of this, DAB portable radios are now outselling their analogue counterparts at the highstreet chain Currys.digital (formerly Dixons). In the DAB car radios the main technology is SDR, such as EtherWaves software on ADI's DSPs.

In addition to the national services, by the end of 2004 there were 48 local and regional radio multiplexes, providing over 250 commercial and 34 BBC stations. For example, in London there are already more than 51 different digital stations available. Further regional and local multiplexes are being planned by Ofcom, the UK regulator. The UK has by far the largest number of DAB stations broadcasting in the world, the highest numbers of listeners to these services[3].

External links

• World DAB Forum