New Delhi: Norway is one step closer to fully drawing down the curtains on its national FM channels by moving to digital radio and the transition from the old to the modern will complete in the next two years.
The Ministry of Culture announced this week that the national FM-networks will be shut down by 2017, which will be the region's historical move into a new radio era and make it the first country in the world to do an analogue switch-off for all major radio channels.
Radio.no notes that Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) and digital radio will provide Norwegians with more radio channel options and greater diversity in content. The DAB alone provides 22 national channels as opposed to five channels transmitting nationwide on FM.
The ministry's decision has given Norwegians a final date, with the switching off beginning in January 11, 2017 for the transition to digital radio, a process persisting for several years since 1995.
Switch-off starts in Nordland county on January 11, 2017 and ends with the northernmost counties Troms and Finnmark by December 13, 2017.
Today's decision makes Norway the first country in the world to set a final date for FM-switch off. Several countries in Europe and Southeast Asia, however, are in similar processes, choosing DAB-technology as the backbone of future radio distribution.
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