Royal Decree 958/2026 boosts terrestrial digital radio: the state-wide service will be provided only in DAB+

Terrestrial digital radio in Spain finally receives the regulatory push the sector had been awaiting for years. The BOE of 5 November 2026 publishes Royal Decree 958/2026, of 4 November, adopting a package of measures to boost DAB+ technology in the terrestrial digital sound broadcasting service. The central decision: the state-wide service will be provided exclusively with DAB+ technology, the most efficient standard, which allows doubling the number of channels per network.

The direct precedent is Royal Decree 1287/1999, which approved the national technical plan for terrestrial digital sound broadcasting and introduced DAB technology. That bet never took off in audience: despite European interest - Directive (EU) 2018/1972, transposed by Law 11/2022, the General Telecommunications Law, requires that new category M vehicles sold or rented in the Union incorporate a receiver capable of reproducing terrestrial digital broadcasting services - terrestrial digital radio listening in Spain remains comparatively low. The new royal decree tries to break that circle with technical and planning measures, without setting phases for "switching off" DAB technology or altering the networks, frequency blocks and geographical areas of the current technical plan.

What is the difference between DAB and DAB+

The only technical difference between the two systems lies in the encoding of the audio signal. The system is called DAB when the signal is encoded with MPEG Layer II, and DAB+ when it is encoded with MPEG 4, which is more efficient. Moving from one to the other does not require modifying network elements such as transmitters: the improvement is achieved with a change of encoding, a logical operation on the signal with no impact on the existing infrastructure. In return, DAB+ makes better use of the spectrum, makes the signal more robust against interference, allows advanced audio formats such as multichannel sound and enables functionalities such as the automatic safety alert.

The royal decree sets the specifications: DAB emissions must comply with specification TS 103 466 of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), and DAB+ with the MPEG HE-AACv2 encoding standard pursuant to specification TS 102 563. The loudness level must be normalised according to standard ITU-R BS.1770 and recommendation EBU R-128.

From six to twelve channels per network

Capacity is the other major lever. Each network broadcasting with DAB technology may integrate a maximum of six sound broadcasting channels, but when the competent audiovisual body decides that emissions are made exclusively with DAB+, the network may integrate up to twelve channels. Holders of enabling titles may devote part of the assigned capacity to additional or complementary services, with a ceiling of 20 percent of the capacity of each holder.

At state level, the Spanish Radio and Television Corporation will operate the full capacity of the MF-I network for the public service, and the current holders of state licences will operate their channels through the MF-II network, both having to reach the coverage levels of the first additional provision. The use of the FU-E network will be determined by order of the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Administration, considering the possibility of configuring territorial disconnections, technological development and market evolution; until then, its capacity may be used for tests and experimental uses, prior authorisation pursuant to the Regulation of the public radio domain (Royal Decree 123/2017).

Regional and local: voluntary transition and regional decision

At regional and local level the pace will be different. Initially the service will be provided with DAB technology, but each enabled holder may voluntarily and unilaterally decide to switch to DAB+, after notifying the audiovisual body of its autonomous community and without exceeding the conditions of its licence or increasing its number of services, pursuant to article 28.4 of Law 13/2022, the General Audiovisual Communication Law.

The competent regional body may decide at any time from which date the regional and local networks of its territory will broadcast exclusively in DAB+. When it does, the number of channels per network will rise to the maximum of twelve, and it must decide whether all reserved channels are assigned in a single network - leaving the others unexploited and freeing their spectral capacity for new planning - and how channels are distributed between public service and licences, with the possibility of setting coverage targets. Every decision must be communicated by electronic means to the State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures.

Network management, register and safety alerts

Entities sharing capacity in a network must adopt technical management agreements and designate a network manager; in regional networks with public service, the decisions will correspond to the entity entrusted with that provision. The CNMC will keep the Register of terrestrial digital sound broadcasting information parameters, which will be regulated by order, and the audiovisual bodies must notify it within fifteen days of decisions on networks and licences affecting it. Technical management conflicts between entities of the same network will be settled by the CNMC by resolution.

The royal decree also regulates the automatic safety alert system (ASA), one of DAB+'s star functionalities for emergencies, and sets information obligations to the user: receivers marketed in Spain must include clear and detailed information about their capabilities, in particular about DAB and DAB+ technologies and about additional functionalities, especially the automatic safety alert.

Staggered entry into force and margin for development

The royal decree does not enter into force immediately: it will do so three months after the day following its publication in the BOE, that is, on 6 February 2027, a margin intended for operators and manufacturers to adapt systems and catalogues. Its final provisions distribute the pending work: the State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures is empowered to modify the frequency blocks of the technical plan according to the availability of the public radio domain and international coordination; the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Administration will issue the necessary development and application provisions; and it is foreseen that the maximum number of channels per network may be modified by order according to technological development and the market.

As regards alerts, the managers of networks broadcasting fully and mandatorily in DAB+ must guarantee that their networks can manage and send public alerts in accordance with the ASA system, defined by ETSI specifications TS 104 089 and TS 104 090. This is the piece that connects digital radio with civil protection systems: automatic alert messages that are activated without listener intervention, a function that analogue technology cannot offer.

Why it matters to the legal sector

The rule, subject to public hearing and to the autonomous communities pursuant to the Regulation of the public radio domain, opens a foreseeable regulatory work front: development orders for the parameters Register, regional decisions of exclusive migration to DAB+, experimental use authorisations and possible disputes over coverage and licences. For operators, the stability of the technical plan - no switch-offs or forced replanning - reduces the risk of objections, but the voluntary nature of the regional transition anticipates an uneven deployment map.

In our regulatory archive you can consult other recent BOE pieces, such as the new regulation of the CUME benefit or the 2027 modules for the self-employed, and for the European technological context, our coverage of the AI Law and algorithmic governance.

Sources

• Royal Decree 958/2026, of 4 November (BOE-A-2026-23177)