Digital Britain Report released

The UK Government has released the Digital Britain Report and Impact Assessment which says that 'Medium Wave' will no longer carry radio services.

The report envisages that a 'Digital Radio Upgrade' should be achieved by the end of 2015.

It says -

"On the determined date all services carried on the national and local DAB multiplexes will cease broadcasting on analogue. At the same time, a new tier of ultra-local radio, consisting of small local commercial stations and community stations, will occupy the vacated FM spectrum. Radio services on MW will either upgrade to DAB or, if they are within the ultra-local tier, to FM."

It also says "ultra-local services which remain on FM after the Digital Radio Upgrade should only do so temporarily".

Page 112 of the Impact Assessment says "MW would no longer carry radio services". The List of Acronyms provided does not appear to include a definition for MW. It is usually taken to mean the Medium Wave band but in this context it may have a wider definition such as including the Long Wave band which isn't specifically mentioned.

There was no mention of Short Wave radio in the report other than a fleeting reference to it regarding Digital Radio Mondiale.

Digital Radio Mondiale, http://www.drm.org/, is the international digital radio system developed for Short Wave, Medium Wave and Long Wave broadcasting (and VHF using DRM+) but for radio broadcasting the report favoured using the VHF DAB system instead.

On radio spectrum liberalisation it was proposed to impose a time limited cap on the amount of spectrum that any operator can hold at one time below 1 GHz. Mobile operators Vodafone and O2 both hold spectrum below 1 GHz.

The report indicates that the Government is considering a tax on fixed line telephones. It is said this would be to fund a ‘Final Third’ project to deliver at least 90% coverage of Next Generation Broadband Networks by 2017.

As had been rumoured the successful entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, founder of lastminute.com, has been appointed as the UK's Digital Inclusion Champion. The role is understood to involve driving digital inclusion issues into the public eye, facilitating government conversation and promoting cross-sector engagement.

Digital Britain: The Final Report
http://www.dcms.gov.uk/what_we_do/
broadcasting/6216.aspx

Digital Britain Final Report - Full Report
http://www.dcms.gov.uk/images/publications/
digitalbritain-finalreport-jun09.pdf

Digital Britain Impact Assessment
http://www.dcms.gov.uk/images/publications/
digitalbritain_impactassessment.pdf

Telegraph - Martha Lane Fox appointed Britain's 'Digital Champion'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/
mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/5551647/
Martha-Lane-Fox-appointed-Britains-Digital-Champion.html

Press Release - Building Britain's Digital Future 1/3
http://www.dcms.gov.uk/reference_library/
media_releases/6220.aspx

Department for Culture, Media and Sport
http://www.dcms.gov.uk/

Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS)
http://www.bis.gov.uk/

Department for Business Enterpise & Regulatory Reform (BERR)
http://www.berr.gov.uk/