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The tech bits in the car are good, with the head-up display being quite helpful, which includes the navigation as well. The screen is easy to navigate around, and the Apple CarPlay is a massive bonus, as well as the DAB+ radio.

"Today is a day of celebration," said CSA commissioner Nicolas Curien at the official launch of DAB+ in Hauts-de-France on Tuesday 19 June. 51 radio stations will receive DAB+, of which 24 are brand new stations that previously did not receive FM coverage, and are so new to the radio landscape in the region.

The quality of Kyiv's new DAB+ multiplex was put to the test on Tuesday, as NRADA chairman Yuri Artemenko and member Sergei Kostinsky found several stations available without using the in-built antenna on their receiver. Nine stations are broadcasting in DAB+ following a tender process conducted in March.

As Telepro pointed out at the beginning of the year, and in preparation for the upcoming arrival of DAB+ digital radio in Belgium, RTBF is continuing its process of extinction of medium wave (AM) by reducing the daily broadcasting hours of La 1 st and VivaCité from its Wavre transmitter 621 kHz.

Nicolas Curien (Advisor to the CSA, President of the Radio Working Group) said: "The launch of DAB in Lille and in Hauts-de-France is both an opportunity for the region and a promise of success for the ambitious deployment plan 2018-2020."

DEVA Broadcast will begin shipping its DB46 monitor in July. The DB46 DAB monitor is ETSI EN 300 401 DAB standard compliant.

In the north-west of France, 41 radio stations were officially started Tuesday via DAB+. These include Lille, Dunkirk and Calais, where five of the seven multiplexes have been brought into the air.

As part of Belgian French-language RTBF’s strategy to transition toward DAB+, in May the public radio broadcaster reduced daily AM broadcasts of its “VivaCité” and “La Première” stations to 14 hours. “Our plan is to discontinue AM once DAB+ kicks off,” said Laurent Finet, head of production and digital innovation at RTBF radio. “We will however continue our FM broadcasts for a number of years before we eventually put an end to these as well.”

About 25 new stations have been created following the launch of DAB+ in Hauts-de-France, dramatically increasing the radio landscape of the area.

After the launch of DAB+ services in Paris, Marseille and Nice, 51 stations have launched in the digital standard in Lille and the Hauts-de-France region.