Mobile Broadband the Fastest Growing ICT in Human History

 Increasingly a game-changing challenge for the broadcasting industry

The 2016 State of Broadband report has been released by the UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development: At the global level, the total number of mobile cellular subscriptions will reach 7.4 billion by the end of 2016, according to the latest ITU estimates, with almost half of these subscriptions for mobile broadband. GSMA estimates that there were 4.7 billion unique mobile subscribers worldwide by the end of 2015 (63% of the global population). 6,5 billion smartphone subscriptions are forecast by 2022.

Another 77 Frequencies For Local FM Radio in Denmark

DAB replacing FM is not yet visible on the horizon.

All broadcasting licenses for local FM radio in Denmark expires at the end of 2017. Before new allocation of frequencies for local radio during next year, the Energy Board has presented a list of 103 vacant frequencies in the FM band. Of these 77 are new frequencies, while 26 are "old" and still vacant. A total of 635 local frequencies will be assigned

Flop For DAB Radio in Poland

Radio listeners and private broadcasters are not interested

So far only 1500 radios with DAB + have been sold in Poland (with a population of 40 million). This is seen as a major failure as there have been invested four million zloty annually in broadcasting since 2010 according to the magazine Satkurier.pl. Barbara Stanisławczyk head of Polskie Radio - the public broadcaster, believes for the future of radio it is evident that Poland should continue with analog FM and also the Internet.

DAB Critics Slam Radio Revolution in Norway

Forced digitalization is an embarrassing exhibit of nation-building with no vision.

Static is rising over Norway’s plans to literally turn off its FM radio network next year and replace it with DAB. As the date for launching the FM phase-out draws closer, Norwegians

are waking up to the fact that their traditional AM/FM radios will no long work, and protests are pouring in, writes NewsinEnglish.no in a comprehensive article.

Renewal of National Analogue Radio Licenses Signals FM Survival

No FM switch-off in sight for many years in Great Britain

The UK’s three national analogue FM and AM commercial radio network licenses will qualify for a further five-year renewal, from 2018, Ofcom has confirmed. The stations, Classic FM, Talksport and Absolute Radio, are owned by Global, Wireless Group and Bauer respectively.

Spotify now more popular than radio listening

Global expansion parallels Netflix success

The Swedish music streaming service Spotify is still far ahead of Apple and other competitors. It is has now become a crucial market factor also for the radio industry. Spotify’s free version has the largest reach of any digital music service in the UK, even outstripping many commercial radio stations, new research claims. A study by global market research firm TNS says that the free version of the music streaming service now reaches 16.8% of the UK listening audience. 

FM Unbeatable Listening Platform in Germany

Online radio strongest digital challenger, leaving DAB behind

A study on which platforms the Germans use to listen to the radio this year and the previous three years has been presented at the IFA Electronics show. 94 percent listen to radio on FM. This is a percentage that have been unchanged for the past four years. A third -  34.1%  - use the Internet for radio listening. Other digital radio is shared evenly; DAB 13.8, via cable 14.7 and satellite 13.9%.

Young Germans Are Abandoning Radio

Dark outlook for traditional radio and television. Smartphone takeover.

Especially for the young generation a smartphone is now indispensable. TV and radio hardly matters anymore. This shows a survey by TNS Emnid on behalf of the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) among Internet users in Germany.