Saudi Arabia - Current situation - History
21.07.2025
On 7 August 2023, the Saudi Broadcasting Authority officially launched DAB+ broadcasts in Riyadh, Damman and Jeddah, with six stations on air.
In 2024, five more cities Neom, Hail, Al Madinah, Al Ahsa, and Al Qassim were activated. Transmitters from SYS were used for these sites. Each city has separate reception and encoding systems compatible with DAB+.
In 2025, the network is expanding to nine more cities: Abha, Makkah, Taif, Al-Baha, Jazan, Sakaka, Arar, Najran, and Tabuk. These are linked to a centralized head-end system in Riyadh for synchronized control and service management. Also, five projects are underway to cover Saudi Arabia’s major highways with DAB+ digital radio. The projects implement Single Frequency Network (SFN) technology, which improves spectrum efficiency, reduces interference, and provides seamless coverage along highways. Completion is expected by the end of 2025.
Saudi Arabia has legislation requiring radio receivers to be equipped with terrestrial DAB+ capabilities. According to Saudi legislation, starting from 1 January 2021, home receivers, portable receivers and vehicle receivers are required to be equipped with DAB+.
13.09.2023
On 7 August 2023, the Saudi Broadcasting Authority officially launched DAB+ broadcasts in Riyadh, Damman and Jeddah, with six stations on air. It's expected that DAB+ will be available in all regions of the Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Saudi Arabia has legislation requiring radio receivers to be equipped with terrestrial DAB+ capabilities. According to Saudi legislation, starting from 1 January 2021, home receivers, portable receivers and vehicle receivers are required to be equipped with DAB+.
21.09.2020
DAB+ services are on air in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has introduced legislation requiring radio receivers to be equipped with terrestrial DAB+ capabilities.
According to Saudi legislation, starting from 2021/01/01, home receivers, portable receivers and vehicle receivers are required to be equipped with DAB+.