More Openings For Free Radio Access in Smartphones and Tablets

Mobile operator offers subscribers unlimited music streaming.

Swedish telecom and broadband operator Three (3) from now on provides their customers with an unlimited surf pool for music streaming via services Spotify, Deezer and Tidal. More services will be added later on.

Russia Testing Digital System Below the FM Band

DRM+ Broadcasts in Band I

Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network has started a full DRM+ trial on Radio Mayak (Radio Lighthouse) in St. Petersburg on the 67.46 frequency. This new test is similar to one that took place in Moscow in December 2014, says the Digital Radio Mondiale organization.

First global satellite high speed mobile broadband service

Full global service by end of 2015 by three Inmarsat satellites 

The Inmarsat-5 F3 satellite will cover the Pacific Ocean Region and will, together with Inmarsat-5 F1 and Inmarsat-5 F2, create what the company says is “the world’s first globally available, high-speed mobile broadband service, delivered through a single provider”. 

Global Xpress will deliver broadband speeds around 100 times faster than the company’s fourth generation constellation, offering services for customers in both the public and private sectors, especially in the most remote and inaccessible regions of the world.

Digital Radio Will Not Replace FM in Australia

DAB+ proposed to be supplementary to analogue platforms

In the Department of Communications report the conclusion is that Australia should not replace AM/FM with DAB+ but rather focus on analogue platforms and make DAB+ as a supplementary alternative. There is no clear picture of the future for digital terrestrial radio.

The cost and complexity of rolling out DAB plus-based digital terrestrial radio services across regional Australia present major challenges for the industry according to the report. The need to cover large geographic areas with small and dispersed populations offers unique challenges which have not been faced in many international markets.

EBU Condemns Swedish Government Decision to Stop DAB Radio

Decision to retain FM radio plagues DAB developments. 

The decision to retain FM radio in Sweden has created an uproar amongst DAB proponents and lobbyists in Europe. In Sweden the unusual approach by the Director General of Swedish public radio (SR) and EBU Member Cilla Benkö by protesting against the government has been duly noted in media. Now also the EBU has joined her in condemning the decision. News that the Swedish government is to postpone the development of a digital terrestrial network has been widely criticised as 'short-sighted and retrograde' by public service broadcasters across Europe writes EBU on its web site.  

Final Stop For DAB Radio in Sweden

Joins Finland rejecting the DAB technology and retaining FM
Democracy too strong for longtime lobbyism

The Swedish government has announced it will not go ahead with plans to replace FM radio with digital DAB+ broadcasting. In the daily Svenska Dagbladet, the Swedish minister of culture and democracy Alice Bah Kuhnke writes that there is not enough support for introducing digital radio. Among the main reasons for retaining FM is that 10 million FM receivers would have to be replaced.

The culture minister also points to concerns from the Swedish defense, which uses some of the DAB frequencies, and that there are some reports that the planned DAB networks wouldn’t have the same coverage area as the current FM networks.

Government Prepares Retainment of FM Radio In Sweden

"The DAB project is off the agenda" 
At its party congress Miljöpartiet - the Green party - has decided that the FM radio should be retained in Sweden. According to the party's culture and media spokesman Niclas Malmberg this decision means that the 2014 proposal to replace FM with DAB+ 2022 will not be carried out by the government
Since 2014 Sweden has a coalition government by the Social Democrats and the Greens. Miljöpartiet ministers is in charge of the culture, media and ICT agenda. The ministry of culture statement regarding DAB radio is expected before summer holidays in July.

Continued Slow Uptake for DAB Radio in the U.K.

Still analogue is the major radio listening platform

Listening on digital platforms has increased four percentage points on one-year basis according to latest RAJAR survey. However, still AM/FM is the major platform with 54,3 % of all listening. The share of listening to DAB is 25.9% of all listening (23.7% in Q1, 2014). This is still the highest share for DAB listening in Europe but the system was introduced in the U.K. already 1995. Norway is number two for DAB listening with a 19 % share and Denmark number three with 14 %.

No FM Switch-off in South Africa

Digital radio DAB/DRM to be developed on its own track

A South African government ICT Review Report SA states that regarding digital radio the media regulator ICASA 2013 decision not to make a determination on the switch off of AM and/or FM signals must be endorsed, and that the licensing of DRM and DAB services must be facilitated in parallel.

Mobile Broadband and Broadcast Go Together

First trials of new converged mobile broadcast system

French transmitter network operator TDF and Italian public broadcaster RAI have launched the world’s first field trials of the new converged mobile broadcast system LTE-A+ Broadcast from transmitter sites in Paris and Aosta (Italy). The trials intend to evidence the possibility of convergence between the LTE technology ecosystem on one side and traditional DVB broadcast infrastructure on the other. They come at a moment where the mobile industry is increasingly looking at eMBMS, an LTE-embedded broadcast approach to serve the growing mobile video and radio/TV consumption.

New Transmitters For The Expanded FM Band

Brazil to migrate thousand of radio stations from AM to FM

At the 2015 NAB Show GatesAir demonstrated an FM over-the-air system The Flexiva FAX designed for broadcasting on 76-88.1 MHz (below the regular 88-108 MHz FM band). The launch of an expanded FM band appears imminent, said Rich Redmond, chief product officer GatesAir. Our customers can be assured that we’ll be ready with systems as receivers for the proposed expanded FM band hit the market.

No FM Switch-Off in Ireland

All 43 radio stations now on a single Radioplayer app

The phasing out of FM radio in Ireland is not under consideration, a government spokesperson says. While there are no plans at present to roll out DAB services on a national basis, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) will continue to monitor and consider the potential for the development of digital radio in Ireland. - For the first time, all RTÉ FM stations, along with 34 independent radio stations across Ireland, are available via a single free-for-all Radioplayer app.