Italian commercial stations switch to DAB+

In what looks to be the first ever use of DAB+ on fully launched radio stations anywhere in the world, most of the radio stations on the two Italian national commercial multiplexes have switched from using the old DAB format to DAB+, with only the RAI national public service multiplex clinging on to using DAB for all of its stations. The following table shows the number of stations on these multiplexes that are using the new and old versions of the Eureka 147 system:

It's possible that these DAB+ services would technically be called test or trial transmissions, but these were full-time DAB stations that have switched to using DAB+, and the likelihood of them switching back to the effectively obsolete DAB format is so remote that it isn't worth thinking about, so I think it's fair to say that these are the first stations to use DAB+ anywhere in the world. 

The order of countries planning to launch DAB+ over the next year or two is as follows, although it's possible that others will launch as well, as there's a lot of interest in using DAB+ from a number of countries, but the following countries are those that are definitely planning to launch DAB+ services:

1. Malta in spring 2008 -- just waiting for a range of receivers containing DAB+ software to become available 
2. Switzerland in autumn 2008 -- the Swiss regulator BAKOM has awarded licences to a number of commercial stations that are due to launch using DAB+
3. Australia on 1st January 2009 -- the government has mandated that they have to launch by 1st Jan 2009, so stations may launch sooner than that
4. Germany in 2009 -- stations are proposed to be launched in 2009, although I haven't seen many details about it yet, but the Bavarian regulator has given incentives to commercial radio stations to use DAB+, so I'd imagine the Bavarian region will be the first to see DAB+ services in Germany. 

Other countries that are "expected to follow soon after" (according to WorldDMB) include: Canada, Czech Republic, Israel, Hungary, Kuwait, Malaysia, and New Zealand.