German commercial radio says "modernise DAB or switch it off"

11th August 2006

"In Germany, the Private Radio and Telecommunications Federation (VPRT) has published a position paper on digital radio. The main points:-

Radio should not be limited to one means of digital distribution. Both DMB in the immediate term and DVB-H in the medium term appear to the VPRT to be suitable broadcasting standards. The "classic" DAB system should be either modernised or switched off."

and

"Manufacturers should be encouraged to produce integrated receivers combining all the current Standards - FM, DMB, DVB-H."

This is a major blow to the current version of the DAB system that was designed in the 1980s, and it follows decisions from numerous other countries that are opposed to using this out-of-date version of the DAB system, such as:

Helen Coonan, the Australian Minister for Communications, said this last year about the current DAB system: "Let’s face it, adoption now of a standard that is already 10 years old and may well be superseded, for implementation in another 2 to 3 years, would, in my view, be irresponsible" -- Australia has now committed to using AAC+ on DAB (dubbed 'DAB+')
4 out of the 5 largest French radio broadcasters expressed their total opposition to using the current DAB system in a consultation about digital radio, citing that it was out-of-date and that a system using the AAC+ audio codec should be used instead -- 19 radio stations using AAC+ are currently being transmitted on the DVB-H trial in Paris
Sweden pulled the plug on DAB expansion, and the government told Swedish Radio to look at using other, more modern technologies -- some of Swedish Radio's radio stations are now being trialed using AAC+ on the DVB-H system in Stockholm (see article below)
Finland turned off its DAB transmitter network last year, and vowed to investigate the use of modern systems, such as DVB-H and T-DMB
The world's first subscription radio service launched using the T-DMB system in Singapore recently, and it is expected that the radio stations are using the AAC+ format
The Netherlands decided to halt the DAB expansion and instead have decided to wait for new technologies to become available
DAB in Canada is now effectively dead, and Canadian versions of the US-based XM and Sirius satellite digital radio systems are being used for digital radio instead