PARIS — Deployments of DAB+ are starting to increase across France. After Paris, Marseille and Nice, which have had DAB+ for over three years, DAB+ is now available in Lille and in the Hauts-de-France region with the launch of 51 stations on June 19.
This is “an ambitious national deployment plan being driven by the France’s Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA – Superior Council of the Audiovisual),” according to WorldDAB news.
In the next few months, the deployment of DAB+ will continue in Alsace, Rhône-Alpes, Normandy, Brittany, Gironde and Occitanie. Moreover, a multi-regional call for candidatures covering 15 zone,s and a national call for candidatures will be launched shortly.
Nicolas Curien (Advisor to the CSA, President of the Radio Working Group) told WorldDAB: “The launch of DAB+ in Lille and in Hauts-de-France is both an opportunity for the region and a promise of success for the ambitious deployment plan 2018-2020 laid down by the CSA roadmap. Radio will be richer for the benefits brought by digital.”
CSA’s strategy, known as the ‘nodes and arcs plan’, will make DAB+ accessible to 70% of the French population by 2020; and, in three years, the large conurbations (the ‘nodes’) and the main road arteries (the ‘arcs’) will be covered.
“The arrival of DAB+ in Lille and other cities in 2018 marks a breakthrough with the wait-and-see attitude that has prevailed so far. We fully support the acceleration of the deployment of digital audio broadcasting by the President of the CSA. It is imperative that it is consolidated before the arrival of 5G, to optimize the place of radios on the new digital platforms,” said Pierre Boucard, national delegate for spectrum management and new technologies of the SNRL, the professional organization of community radio in France.
