Europe to Devote More Spectrum to DAB

The European Conference for Posts and Telecommunications will allocate an additional seven blocks of L-Band spectrum across Europe to terrestrial DAB. The World DAB Forum, which represents companies and organizations from all sectors of the radio broadcasting industry from 25 countries, was pleased. This is the 3rd such allocation of spectrum to the Eureka-147 DAB system. The group reached its decision at a planning meeting in Maastricht, in the Netherlands.
“The extra L-Band now available will create more opportunities for digital broadcasting services and will pave the way for competition, particularly in densely populated areas,” said WorldDAB President, Annika Nyberg. In 2005, it is hoped that a revision of the Stockholm Plan, drawn up in 1961 to organize and plan frequencies across Europe and northern Africa, will address the issue of extra spectrum for terrestrial DAB in Band III.