In Great Britain, all channels programmed on local DAB+ now work. Two transmitters were deployed this week, Edinburgh (Scotland) and Fishguard (Wales).
The rollout of local DAB+ covering 50 local multiplexes was given the green light by the British government in 2015. The cost of the local network is split between three parties: the British Media Department, the BBC and the local private DAB multiplex operator for each region. The network always includes local BBC radios and private local stations.
The company took care of the technical release Argiva, specializes in developing and managing transmission infrastructure. In the first phase of the rollout, which was completed in 2016, local DAB coverage already covers 72 per cent of British households.
Now the local network has almost doubled, with new channels being switched on and 221 local DAB stations being moved. This means that local DAB could theoretically attract 10 million extra listeners. Total local network coverage now reaches 90 per cent of the UK population. The coverage of road infrastructure has been expanded to 6,500 kilometers.
Arqiva built a second national commercial multiplex (Sound Digital) a few years ago and expanded the BBC multiplex, which now has 97 percent national coverage.
In addition to the local DAB network and three national multiplexes (1 BBC and 2 commercial), there are currently ten small-scale (urban) multiplexes operating in Great Britain, tentatively with a trial license until the end of March 2020.
The local DAB network operates on bands 10B, 10C, 11B, 11C and 12D.
