Azerbaijan 2027: Digital radio broadcasting prospects

Azerbaijan intensified the work on a phased transition to digital radio broadcasting in 2023.

Along with analogue FM broadcasting, local radio programmes in the DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcasting) standard have been broadcast in Baku and on the Absheron Peninsula in a test regime for four years.

Digital radio broadcasting will cover 99.6 per cent of the Azerbaijani territory in 2027. In July 2023, the Azerbaijani president ordered to allocate 13.7 million manats ($8.05 million) to create the necessary infrastructure and purchase equipment.

However, along with the DAB+ advantages, the transition to digital radio broadcasting is associated with several commercial and technical issues.

Executive director of the “ICT Market Participants” public association Ali Aliyev answered Caliber.Az journalist’s questions.

A decade ago, Azerbaijan took a leading position in overcoming the “digital divide” and fulfilling the relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals. Azerbaijan particularly ensured the highest rate of transition from analogue broadcasting to digital television broadcasting in the post-Soviet area. Azerbaijan was fully covered by digital TV by 2014 while the broadcasting of terrestrial analog transmitters was stopped by December 2016. This success has been repeatedly outlined in the UN division’s reports - the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the specialised body of the CIS - the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications (RCC).

Digitalisation processes have developed relatively slowly in the radio broadcasting segment. The majority of radio listeners in Azerbaijan (mainly car owners) use analogue radio, designed to receive stations in the traditional FM band. For a long time, few modern cars with audio systems received a digital signal, while the number of portable radios designed to receive stations in the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB+) digital standard accounted for an arithmetic error.

“The process of transition to digital television broadcasting in Azerbaijan was smooth because, at the beginning of this process, most of the TV sets had built-in digital tuners, designed to receive both analogue and digital terrestrial signals,” Aliyev said.

He noted that according to survey data over the past 10 years, about 76 per cent of all TV viewers in Azerbaijan (mainly in the districts) still use satellite dishes by receiving local TV signals from Azerspace-1 domestic communications satellite while cable TV is more widespread in cities.

“According to the latest data from MARSA LLC (a company that assesses TV viewers in Azerbaijan), cable TV accounts for about 15 per cent of all digital broadcasting. About nine per cent of services are rendered by TV platforms through IPTV and over-the-top (OTT) services. The remaining part accounts for digital broadcasting,” he added.

He noted that during the transition to digital TV, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Transport and High Technologies purchased about 50,000 DVB TV tuners to support the poor in receiving digital terrestrial broadcasting on old analogue TVs, and these devices were offered to citizens at discounted prices.

However, the demand for this equipment was not very big as Azerbaijani citizens have a huge number of modern televisions and satellite receivers. Moreover, 20,000 tuners were not sold. For comparison, during the transition to digital broadcasting in neighbouring Georgia, the population purchased about 200,000 DVB TV tuners for old models of analogue television receivers.

The process of spreading digital radio in Azerbaijan was noticeably different amid this positive background; its pace was slower. Despite the first DAB radio station being put into operation in 1995, this product remained a niche one for a long time (more often used in computers optionally equipped with digital tuners).

However, after about 15 years, the introduction of DAB broadcasting intensified. Digital portable radios have become cheaper thanks to the efforts of Chinese manufacturers. Today the standard package of car accessories manufactured in Europe, China and partly in the US and Japan includes audio systems equipped with digital tuners of various standards, the most common of which today is DAB+, including that adopted in Azerbaijan.

“So far, the number of cars equipped with digital tuners of the DAB+ standard has increased in Azerbaijan, and there is such equipment in new cars costing over 80,000 manats ($47,058). This is an extremely important point as according to survey data, the main FM radio listeners in Azerbaijan today are car drivers. They account for 75 per cent of the total audience, and about a quarter of listeners are from other categories of the population,” Aliyev noted, emphasising that radio programmes and content advertising are greatly designed taking into account the interests of car owners.

Thus, car owners will be the driving force behind the commercial demand for digital radio broadcasting in Azerbaijan in the future, and this dynamic will intensify as the car fleet equipped with digital tuners is renewed.

The executive director of the “ICT Market Participants” public association noted that this trend is also typical for many European countries that broadcast in the past in the FM range while today the biggest share is based on the digital standard.

The expert said that the process of transition to digital radio may not be so rapid in Azerbaijan due to social inertia, about three-quarters of 1.7 million cars in the country (1.190 million of them in Baku) are old models, which have only analogue FM tuners. Obviously, replacing old car audio systems with advanced tuners throughout the country would require huge funds (cheap Chinese models of digital car radio systems cost $100 and more), and such a replacement is unlikely to be in demand in the market.

“Therefore, there is no doubt that FM broadcasting is likely to continue for at least another decade, and this smooth transition from analogue to digital broadcasting remained in many countries. Radio continues to be an important source of information, and the government would like all layers of the population to be provided with it,” Aliyev noted.

The expert noted that the advantages of the transition to digital broadcasting are very attractive. Thus, free spectrum in the 88-108 MHz range is extremely limited in analogue FM, especially in cities, where it is difficult to have over fifty radio stations. DAB+, on the contrary, provides high-quality multi-channel stereo sound and an interference-resistant digitised signal. More radio stations can be placed at each frequency, combined into so-called multiplexes due to more efficient coding, each of which can have up to 16 broadcasters which is very important.

Previously, each broadcaster himself received a frequency license, and bought an antenna and a transmitter. As for the digitalisation of radio, the license will be issued to the multiplex operator, and this provider will lease channels to radio stations. According to the world practice, channel rental prices in multiplexes depend on the bitrate (information density in IP traffic), while the DAB+ standard can provide a bitrate of up to 192Kbps, which practically guarantees Hi-Fi sound. Another advantage is the ability of digital radio stations to transmit additional data, including video, graphic and text information.

If the power averages 10-5 kW in the FM range, then in the DAB + standard it can be reduced. For example, a digital radio transmitter with a power of only 1 kW with a 1x6 antenna system has been installed on the TV tower in Baku.

One way or another, the digitalisation of radio broadcasting in Azerbaijan has already begun. So far, there are about 19 FM radio stations in Azerbaijan, 16 of them in Baku, two more in the districts, including the Karabakh region and Nakhchivan.

Digital test broadcasting of radio programmes at a frequency of 218.6 MHz in one package, namely, Azerbaijan Radio, Ictimai FM, Araz FM, Radio TMB, Media FM, Xazar FM, AvtoRadio FM, Asan FM, RadioEnerji, Real FM, Space FM, AzadAzerbaycan FM was launched in Baku on August 26, 2019.

So far, four radio stations with equipment located on the TV tower in Baku, broadcast programmes in the digital standard, and the rental fee for digital transmitters is still free. Taking into account that many radio stations cannot afford signal-boosting services and renting satellite frequencies, they rebroadcast via the internet.