Norway has been using FM radio in conjunction with digital radio since 1995. Since Norwegian terrain is mountainous, it becomes expensive to broadcast on terrestrial radio to the nearly five million Norwegians scattered across the country.
This is why the Minister of Culture has preferred to abandon this technology to digital radio.
"For an eighth of the award, terrestrial digital radio will offer better audio quality and greater choice - over 20 national channels unlike the five currently on FM," said the Minister. Nevertheless, local stations will still be able to broadcast on FM radio.
The decision is far from pleasing to the population since 66% of Norwegians would be against this initiative. Some fear their ability to communicate in an emergency, especially as citizens are not technologically prepared. Indeed, one third of the cars only are equipped with digital receivers and the adapter costs between 115 usd and 230 usd in shop.
Other countries are closely monitoring the effects of this decision. This is the case in the United Kingdom, which is considering abandoning terrestrial FM radio once 50% of listeners use the digital format. For its part, Germany had already thought about the closure of analogue radio in 2015, but the decision was never seriously considered.
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