Ford UK has already put DAB radios in its Focus models in Britain, and has now decided to fit DAB digital radios standard across all its range of cars by the end of 2012. An industry wide agreement will see all new UK cars factory fitted with digital radios by 2013, but Ford’s move will give the company a 12 month advantage on its competitors. And in developments on digital radio in Australia, the latest listening figures for digital radio are due to be released next week.

Ford UK says it’s decision will tempt buyers who are wary of the mooted 2015 date for all FM broadcasts to be ended. It now plans to extend that policy.

This is how Ford is currently promoting the digital radio feature in its Focus model:

‘It is a looming issue, and we want to be well placed,’ Ford managing director Nigel Sharp told What Car. ‘The fact is that the Focus’s radio is future-proofed now, whereas those in our competitors’ cars aren’t. The plan is to extend that across every Ford model in the next 18 months or so. There are technical issues to overcome because, for instance, traffic alerts are broadcast only in FM at the moment, but we are confident we can achieve our goal.’

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In Australia, the latest official data relating to digital radio broadcasts will be released by Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) on 21 March in the Digital Radio Industry Report 2011. The report will include data from the Nielsen Company, consumer electronics market research and an uptake forecast from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The first official data relating to digital radio broadcasts in Australia was released by Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) on 22 March 2010, showing six months after the consumer launch of digital radio in the five state metropolitan capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, there were 449,000 people listening to digital radio in an average week and around 104,000 digital radios in the market. 

Updated sales and listening figures were released on 6 August 2010 on the one year anniversary of the digital radio full power switch on, showing there were 523,000 people listening to digital radio in an average week and three times the predicted number of digital radios in the market at nearly 150,000.