Aeranti-Corallo calls for additional frequencies
Aeranti-Corallo Coordinator Marco Rossignoli
As Italy moves forward with allocating local and regional DAB+ frequencies, broadcasters are concerned the numbers don’t add up.
The provisional national DAB allocation plan , PNAF-DAB, issued by the Italian communications regulator AGCOM outlined three national, 54 regional (27 of which could be divided into subregions), and 36 local networks. The Italian Ministry of Business and Made in Italy (MIMIT) divided the country into 21 catchment areas and began advertising three groups of local and regional licenses in June 2023. The final request for expressions of interest came in November 2023 and allocation decisions have been made throughout 2024.
In 11 of the catchment areas, applications did not exceed the number of available network licenses. The remaining 10 regions, the number of groups looking to operate at least one of the area’s networks exceeds the planned capacity.
Under the current plan, so-called “beauty contests” will be used to determine which applicant will receive a DAB+ license.
Aeranti-Corallo, which represents 596 companies, including 408 local radio companies and 19 DAB+ network operators, across Italy, has raised concerns that this beauty contest process will leave current FM operators that are part of a losing consortium without access to DAB+ frequencies.
Marco Rossignoli, coordinator of Aeranti-Corallo, noted that Italian law calls for digital broadcasting to represent “a natural evolution of the analog system” and thus it is not acceptable for some existing FM broadcasters to be excluded from the DAB+ airwaves.
When the PNAF-DAB was issued, it was recognized that the provisional plan might not accommodate all current broadcasters in all regions. Aeranti-Corallo noted that this concern has been born out through the MIMIT licensing process.
“To solve the problem,” stated Rossignoli, “in the opinion of Aeranti-Corallo it is necessary to assign additional frequencies in the catchment areas where they are currently quantitatively insufficient.”
Adding a few additional frequencies where they are actually needed would “allow all interested local commercial and community radio stations to broadcast their programs using DAB+ technology,” Rossignoli stated.