LONDON ��Over the last several years 435 new national and local DAB transmitters have been activated across the UK, and that fact was celebrated recently at the Digital Radio Stakeholders� event at the headquarters of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders in London.
Coverage of local DAB stations has increased from 75% to 90% of UK households in a program co-funded by local commercial radio stations and multiplex operators, BBC andDCMSand coordinated by the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom), according toradiotoday.co.uk.� Local DAB coverage is now widely equivalent to FM coverage of local commercial stations, meeting the DCMS local coverage criteria for switchover. 10 million more adults are now inside the coverage areas for local DAB stations and 1.5 million more adults are with the coverage areas for BBC national DAB stations. At the same time, an additional 7,000 kM of the UK roads have coverage for local DAB stations as do 2,300 kM of roads for the BBC national DAB stations.
The BBC has launched 161 new transmitters on its national DAB multiplex, bringing BBC Radio�s national network of 11 stations to 97% of UK households on DAB and providing better coverage for 26% of homes (about 13.6 million adults). Fourteeen new local DAB multiplexes have launched over the last four years and there are now 53 local DAB multiplexes which collectively carry 419 local stations including 45 of the BBC�s network of 46 BBC Local and Nations radio stations. Only BBC Radio Cumbria remains without DAB coverage.
New transmitters have also been built to support the two national commercial DAB networks, Digital One and Sound Digital. Sound Digital, which launched in March 2016, was built to serve 77% of UK households, and now carries 19 stations. Digital One�s coverage has been expanded to 91% of the UK and now carries 13 stations, according to the same article.��
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