UK regulator OfCom is considering switching off AM and FM radio on the grounds that they have both outlived their usefulness, saying digital services could make better use of the spectrum.

With many AM and FM licenses up for renewal, OfCom is considering switching them off and using the bands for digital transmission instead. If licences are renewed they will be locked in for another 24 years.

By making a decision on the future of analog commercial radio now, the U.K regulator argues, it will have more flexibility in the use of the VHF Band II spectrum currently occupied by FM radio. Ofcom says the spectrum could be put to better use if it were allotted to emerging services such as mobile TV and more digital radio and data services:

“FM radio re-uses a limited number of frequencies in a patchwork across the U.K. to deliver around 300 local BBC and commercial services and five UK-wide networks… Any alternative uses for those frequencies would require large chunks of that spectrum to be freed-up simultaneously, something a rolling re-licensing process does not allow for.”