ACMA - Digital radio

Digital radio is being progressively introduced throughout Australia. The ACMA has currently planned and licensed digital radio services for Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Digital radio services are now offered in these areas by commercial radio broadcasters and national broadcasters. Designated community wide-coverage radio broadcasters are also eligible to begin digital broadcasting in the five metropolitan licence areas.

The ACMA will continue to work with Government on the roll-out of digital radio services to areas beyond these five metropolitan licence areas however the timing is dependant on certain policy and technological decisions that are still to be made by the Government.

When will digital radio services start?

Metropolitan licence areas

Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney now receive digital radio services. Under subsection 8AC(8) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 these areas are defined, for the purposes of digital radio start-up, as ‘metropolitan licence areas’ and all other areas are defined as ‘regional licence areas’.

Under subsection 8AC(3) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 the ACMA has declared the digital radio start-up day for metropolitan licence areas as being 1 July 2009. From this date, commercial digital radio broadcasts were required to have commenced. While not required to start broadcasting from this date, national broadcasters have also begun their digital services. Test digital transmissions also took place in May/June 2009 prior to the digital radio start-up day.

The following maps show the metropolitan radio licence areas that currently have access to digital radio services.

Google maps are also available of the licence areas.

Regional licence areas

The Broadcasting Services Act 1992 provides for the start-up of digital radio services in regional licence areas, but does not specify a date. The Minister for the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has the power to determine the start-up date for regional licence areas, but has not yet determined that date. Digital radio services will not commence in regional licence areas before the date specified by the Minister.

Due to technological issues, it is not expected that digital radio will be available in regional licence areas before the Government undertakes a review into alternate technologies. The Minister must cause this review to be conducted by 1 January 2011. It is also possible that digital radio will not be available in regional licence areas before the end of 2013, when all analog television services cease.

What is digital radio broadcasting?

Digital radio broadcasting is a method of assembling, broadcasting and receiving communications services using digital technology which is now common in many products and services such as ipods/MP3 players and digital television receivers.

A fundamental difference between analog and digital broadcasting is that digital technology involves the delivery of digital bit streams that can be used for sound broadcasting as well as a range of other multimedia services. The flexibility to offer these additional services enhances the audience experience.

What are the benefits of digital radio?

Digital radio is able to offer generally higher quality sound than current AM and FM radio broadcasts to fixed, portable and mobile receivers. The sound quality can relate to the bandwidth and the data rates used. The technology also enables a number of additional audio, image and text services, including:

program information such as the station name, song title and artist's name;
internet downloads, traffic information, news and weather;
additional services such as paging and global satellite positioning; and
the ability to pause and rewind services.

You may be able to receive many, or all, of these additional services depending on the digital radio you purchase.

Broadcasters benefit from digital radio because each broadcaster is permitted to transmit multiple program streams. This means that broadcasters may provide numerous digital radio stations instead of a single analog radio station.

What digital radio standard is used?

Digital radio in Australia currently uses the Digital Audio Broadcasting Plus (DAB+) digital radio standard or platform.

The older version of DAB uses the MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 audio codec, which is also known as MP2 due to computer files using those characters for their file extension.

The new DAB+ standard has adopted the HE-AAC version 2 audio codec, commonly known as AAC+ or aacPlus. AAC+ is approximately three-times more efficient than MP2, which means that broadcasters using DAB+ will be able to provide far higher audio quality or far more stations than they could on DAB. It is most likely that broadcasters will provide a combination of both higher audio quality and more stations.

DAB technology is described comprehensively at the WorldDMB website.

In the longer term DAB+ on VHF Band III may not be the only technology used in Australia to deliver digital radio services. A Government review will be conducted into technologies for the transmission of digital radio broadcasting services and the Minister must cause this review to be conducted by 1 January 2011. Possible additional technologies include Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) and DRM+ which are seen as complementary technologies to DAB/DAB+.

What frequency bands will be used?

DAB+ operates in the VHF band III (174 – 230 MHz) which is also widely used for television broadcasts. It is also possible for DAB+ to operate in the ‘L band’ (1452 – 1492 MHz), although there are no current plans to do so.

DRM can operate in broadcasting bands below 30 MHz, including the current medium frequency (531-1206 kHz) broadcast band. DRM+ can also operate in VHF frequencies up to 108 MHz.

Industry links

For further information on digital radio, see the links below to a range of Australian and international websites that include government, broadcasters, industry bodies and not-for-profit digital radio networks.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still listen to the analog AM and FM stations I’m used to?

The introduction of digital radio will have no effect on the availability of AM and FM analog radio services.

Analog radio services will not be ‘switched off’ to facilitate digital radio broadcasting. Consumers do not need to buy a new radio to continue to listen to their current favourite analog stations.

What stations will broadcast digitally?

All of the major commercial broadcasters, national broadcasters (ABC and SBS) and wide coverage community stations are eligible to provide digital radio services in metropolitan licence areas from 1 July 2009.

National and commercial broadcasters have begun digital broadcasting; each providing a range of stations.

Consumers should visit the broadcaster’s websites for further information on the particular stations offered digitally by each broadcaster.

Will additional stations, not available on FM and AM, be available digitally?

National and commercial broadcasters have developed new radio services to be delivered on digital radio only. Many of these additional services include ‘niche’ stations, for example stations focussed on sport, jazz, classical or Australian music.

Consumers should visit the broadcaster’s websites for further information on the particular stations offered digitally by each broadcaster.

Will I be able to listen to my community radio station digitally?

Wide-coverage community radio broadcasters in the five metropolitan licence areas have a right to provide digital services through the digital community radio broadcasting representative companies (the representative companies) that have been established for each of the metropolitan licence areas.

The representative companies have been participating in the switch-on process for digital radio but the ACMA is yet to be advised when eligible community radio services will start broadcasting digitally. It is possible that they may commence late 2009 or early 2010, check the ACMA website for updates.

The legislative framework for digital radio does not provide for local-coverage community radio services to broadcast digitally at this time. A Government review of digital radio transmission technologies will be conducted, and the technologies considered in this review could be more suitable for local-coverage community broadcasting. The Minister must cause this review to be conducted by 1 January 2011.

What type of radio do I need to listen to digital stations?

To receive current digital radio services broadcasting in Australia, you will need to purchase a DAB+ digital receiver. DAB+ radio receivers were unavailable for purchase in Australia before May 2009; therefore the tuners in older radios are unable to receive current digital radio broadcasts.

Some analog radios may have what is often termed ‘digital tuning’ or ‘digital PLL tuning’, these are not digital radios. When purchasing a digital radio, consumers should look for a DAB+ logo.

Importation of digital radios from overseas or the purchase of digital radios from international websites is not recommended. Different countries have adopted different digital radio standards. For example, the USA uses a standard known as ‘HD Radio’ and the UK use DAB as the standard. Therefore, digital radios that are readily available in other countries may not receive Australian DAB+ broadcasts.

Most, if not all DAB+ radio receivers do not receive the AM band. If you are listening to radio services in an area that currently receives digital radio services (Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney), you should be able to hear AM services simulcast on your digital radio. If you wish to listen to AM services outside of the metropolitan licence areas you will still need an analog radio to do so.

Where and when will I be able to buy a digital radio?

Digital radios are on sale now from a number of major retail outlets in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Will DAB+ be used in regional licence areas?

The DAB+ platform which uses VHF Band III currently being used in metropolitan licence areas may not be appropriate for use in regional licence areas. To reach audiences throughout regional licence areas, extensive broadcast coverage (beyond line of sight transmissions) is required, such as that currently provided by AM- Medium Wave services. VHF Band III transmissions may not meet this coverage requirement in all regional licence areas and another digital radio standard might be introduced for regional Australia.

The Government will review digital radio transmission technologies and the Minister must cause this review to be conducted by 1 January 2011. This review will include an investigation of alternate technologies that may be appropriate for digital radio broadcasting in regional licence areas.

The availability of spectrum also impacts the roll-out of digital services in regional licence areas. DAB+ requires spectrum in the frequency band 174-230 MHz (VHF Band III), this spectrum is currently used in regional licence areas for analog and digital television. Therefore in the majority of regional licence areas, there will be no spectrum available in the VHF Band III until analog television services cease broadcasting.

The ACMA is considering proposals to conduct digital radio trials in numerous regional areas. Check the ACMA website for updates.