News

Amidst the promotion of 5G, the industry tends to lose sight of the challenges facing network planners to get it to work. Much of the benefit of 5G comes from the use of new frequency bands of the radio spectrum. These bands promise lots of bandwidth, but they do not travel as far. In the press coverage of 5G, there is lots of the former and little of the latter. The next time you hear someone extolling all the great new features of 5G, ask them how they will get access to sufficiently dense networks.

The CSA has published the list of broadcasters that will be allocated DAB+ frequencies as part of the launch of DAB+ in Amiens, Lille, Calais, Dunkerque, Lens-Douai and Valenciennes.

UK retailer John Lewis and Partners has launched a microsite celebrating UK radio's radio content offering. The launch is the first execution of a wider campaign which Digital Radio UK has developed to roll out for retailers and manufacturers to help them communicate the great live and on demand radio content currently available to consumers from the UK’s radio and audio broadcasters.

Minister of Communications, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, has issued the policy directive to allow for the licensing of Digital Sound Broadcasting. Following a study tour last year the regulator ICASA said in their press release dated 8 April 2019 that "there is clear evidence that DSB technologies are beneficial for South Africa and have proven to be successful in countries visited, such as Norway and Australia". While desired, local receiver manufacture is not mandatory, and many cars on the road already have DAB+ as standard.

The allocation of channels on the national platform for commercial stations is almost complete. Platform provider Antenne Deutschland and National German Radio are currently talking to broadcasters in order to fill the last two of the 16 channels. About 67 million people will be able to listen to the new array of 16 DAB+ stations by the end of 2020.

Radio is far from dead and millions of people each day still tune into radio shows to get their fix of news, music or chat shows. Here's an edit of some of the best radios on the market from Sony, Pure, Roberts and Ruark.

DAB receiver manufacturers continue to evolve their DAB product range, with new devices to wake up with every morning from major brands including Philips, Revo, VQ, Sangean and Ocean.

DAB+ digital radio is more popular than ever with listeners. With more than 82 million DAB+ receivers sold worldwide and over 1.5 million DAB+ devices sold in Germany (HEMIX) in 2019, digital radio is seeing record growth. Compared to 1.4 million DAB+ radios sold in 2018, this corresponds to a growth rate of 6.6 percent.

The French media regulator - CSA - this week announced the list of broadcasters that will be allocated DAB+ frequencies across several cities and regions, as part of the national rollout of DAB+ in France.

In light of cancelled events, GatesAir presents a series of online events that include topical presentations on DAB+, round tables and "virtual booth meetings" offering personal support to broadcasters. GatesAir are able to share knowledge and expertise gathered from their involvement in DAB+ rollouts across Europe and beyond.