Population:	10.3 million
Coverage:	50%

Last update: 07-04-2010

The public broadcaster, Czech Radio and the TELEKO Company have run regular trials  of DAB and DAB+ transmissions in cities such as Prague, Pribram, Plzen and Brno.  The infrastructure is therefore in place to reach around 50% of the population when full roll out occurs.

The Czech Republic faces a similar issue as some other countries in that the ideal spectrum in Band III is currently used by terrestrial television.  As a result, in 2009 the government advertised L-band frequencies but, ultimately, no licences ere awarded. 

It is likely that digital radio broadcasts in the Czech Republic will use DAB+ in both L band and Band III.   

Infrastructure is in place to provide coverage across the main cities within the Czech Republic. Trial services have cover over half of the population in the past.

In August 2007 a trial was launch by the TELEKO Company in co-operation with the public broadcaster Zesky Rozhlas with three DAB programmes and two programmes in DAB+. This trial used both Band III and L-Band and covered almost 130,000 people.

A further trial began in June 2008, again as a joint project between the TELEKO Company in cooperation with the public broadcaster Czech Radio. A 2.5Kw transmitter provided coverage of the capital city, Prague, to a population of around 1.3 million.  The goal of this non-commercial trial was the promotion of digital radio to the Czech public and Government administrators.  In early 2009 a further trial was launched in the second largest city Bruno covering approximately 0.5 million people. Further trials have also been held in other cities around the Czech Republic

In the past there have been DMB trials in the Czech Republic, however, the industry is waiting for the government to make regulatory decisions on mobile TV in the country as there are issues with lack of spectrum.

In April 2006 the Czech Parliament adopted a version of the media law focused on digital broadcasting. The Telecommunications Office has also declared that their office will be technology neutral with regard to the DAB audio codec (DAB or DAB+).

In November 2009 the Czech Telecommunication Office started the DAB+/DMB tender process for digital radio and mobile TV within the Czech Republic. The network operators are waiting to for the licensing process for L-band regional broadcasting around the country to be completed.