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Over 200 radio industry representatives came together on Tuesday 16th July 2013 at the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) facility in Johannesburg to attend a landmark workshop on the rollout of DAB+ digital radio and to discuss plans for a high-powered DAB+ trial transmission extending from Pretoria to Johannesburg.

On the 27th November 2013, the trial licence was granted to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (the applicant on behalf of the NAB radio members) by the regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). Due to equipment procurement delays the trial licence start date has been amended and The Joint SADIBA/NAB Digital Radio DAB+ trial will run from 3 November 2014 to 30 October 2015. The Johannesburg transmitter commenced broadcasts on the 3 November 2014 and the Pretoria transmitter will go live on the 10 November 2014 as a SFN. The total area covered by the trial is 21185km2 and the total gross population covered is 10,705,387 (21.5% of total SA population). It is envisaged that 18 stereo channels allowing 40 radio services from the Public, Commercial and Community sectors will participate. These 40 radio services will be rotated to give each broadcaster a chance to trial. Not all the broadcasters will be from the Gauteng province and a third of the mux is reserved for Community Broadcasters. The South African DAB+ trial has been divided into 3 Phases. These phases are : PHASE 1: Network Verification Process  PHASE 2: Audio and Data  testing. PHASE 3 Additional Audio and Data testing with the last 4 months allocated to closed listener group tests simulating a "commercial" mux.

 

Download the DAB+ trial Johannesburg (T97)SA Field Measurement Report 29th August 2015 prepared by Sentech SOC.

Read the South African DAB+ Trial Rules of Operation Document.

Read the WorldDMB press release.

Download the Presentations from the WorldDMB Workshop.

View Pictures from the WorldDMB Workshop in South Africa.

Read Duncan McLeod's article Digital radio to hit SA's airwaves in TechCentral.