The Hola DAB project has put in place the necessary infrastructure to guarantee DAB+ in 18 provinces.
Thanks to a new effort by the telecommunications infrastructure company Ibertel, DAB+ will soon be available in Spain.
After the initial rollout of digital radio in Spain in the late 1990s, the technology has largely stagnated with DAB on the air in only a few markets. However, in recent years, there have been increasing calls for DAB+ implementation in the country.
In response, the Hola DAB project has quietly moved forward to put in place the necessary infrastructure to guarantee DAB+ to the whole of Spain.
"This initiative is presented as a technical response to the absolute passivity of the administration in promoting digital radio in Spain, unlike what happened with digital terrestrial television."
Ibertel in a post on its Facebook page.
The initial phase of Hola DAB aims to deploy DAB+ networks in 18 provinces of Spain and then gradually grow to reach 95% of the Spanish population.
The 18 provinces of the initial launch are Albacete, Asturias, Burgos, Cordoba, Granada, Guadalajara, Las Palmas, Madrid, Malaga, Mallorca, Murcia, Pamplona, Seville, Tenerife, Valencia, Valladolid, Vigo and Zaragoza. No specific timetable for the rollout has been announced, but in response to questions on its Facebook post, Ibertel said that the first phase of the rollout would be completed by the summer.
Although it is widely used elsewhere in Europe, Spain has not officially authorized the use of DAB+ in the country. Despite this, some stations - including the Catholic church station Radio María - are transmitting a DAB+ signal on existing multiplexes in Madrid and Barcelona. Local DAB+ multiplexes have also been launched in 2021 in Ibiza and the Canary Islands.